Japanese officials formally asked the United States to extradite two Americans accused of helping former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn carry out their escape from the Tokyo action movie.
Japan submitted its requests for the extradition of former Green Beret Michael Taylor and his son Peter to the US State Department under the two-nation extradition treaty, federal prosecutors said in a court filing Thursday.
The disclosure came more than a month after the feds caught the Taylor in May. Tokyo prosecutors had issued arrest warrants for the father-son duo, who allegedly helped execute an elaborate December prank to take Ghosn to Lebanon that involved stuffing the former car executive into a box of audio equipment.
Federal prosecutors said they would provide copies of Japan’s extradition requests to the Taylor attorneys, but the documents did not appear in federal court filings on Friday morning. The State Department referred questions to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Neither the Japanese embassy nor a Taylor attorney immediately responded to emails seeking comment.
The requests came amid a legal battle between the feds and the Taylor attorneys over whether to overturn the arrest warrants. The couple’s legal team has argued that their alleged role in Ghosn’s escape did not amount to a real crime in Japan, according to a prosecutor who relies on a “flawed” interpretation of Japanese law.
At the time of his escape, Ghosn, 66, was on bail in Tokyo while awaiting trial for allegedly reporting $ 80 million in compensation earnings and diverting the company’s cash for his own use. He denied the allegations and said he fled the “persecution”.
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