Ghosn fled Japan after security firm hired by Nissan stopped surveillance: sources - Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters) - Ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn left his Tokyo residence after a private security firm hired by Nissan Motor Co stopped monitoring him, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday.

FILE PHOTO: Carlos Ghosn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Renault, attends the company's annual shareholders meeting in La Defense business district, near Paris, April 29, 2008. French carmaker Renault sticks to its target of a 2008 operating profit margin of 4.5 percent, despite a weaker dollar and pound and a faster than forecast rise in raw material prices, Ghosn told the annual general meeting. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

Ghosn has become an international fugitive after he revealed on Tuesday he had fled to Lebanon to escape what he called a “rigged” justice system in Japan, where he faces charges relating to alleged financial crimes.

Nissan had hired a private security company to watch Ghosn, who was on bail and awaiting trial, to check whether he met any people involved in the case, the three sources said.

But his lawyers warned the security company to stop watching him as it would be a violation of his human rights, and Ghosn was planning to file a complaint against the company, the sources said.

The security company stopped its surveillance by Dec. 29, the sources said.

One of his lawyers, Junichiro Hironaka, told reporters in November that they were considering steps to prevent people from stalking Ghosn.

A Nissan spokesperson declined to comment.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK, citing investigative sources, said a surveillance camera by the authorities in Ghosn’s home showed him leaving alone around noon on Sunday, and did not show him returning.

It was unclear how Ghosn, who holds French, Brazilian and Lebanese citizenship, was able to orchestrate his departure from Japan. He entered Lebanon legally on a French passport, one source has told Reuters.

A Turkish private jet operator said on Friday that Ghosn used two of its planes illegally in his escape from Japan, with an employee falsifying lease records to exclude his name from the documents.

Ghosn has said he will speak publicly about his escape on Jan. 8.

He was first arrested in Tokyo in November 2018, shortly after his private jet touched down at the airport. He faces four charges - which he denies - including hiding income and enriching himself through payments to dealerships in the Middle East.

Reporting by Maki Shiraki and Norihiko Shirouzu, writing by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Kim Coghill

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2020-01-04 07:03:00Z
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Ghosn lawyer outraged by Japan's justice system as by escape - The Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — A lawyer for former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn said Saturday he felt outraged and betrayed by his client’s escape from Japan to Lebanon, but also expressed an understanding for his feelings of not being able to get a fair trial.

“My anger gradually began to turn to something else,” Takashi Takano wrote in his blog post.

Referring to Japan’s judicial system, he said: “I was betrayed, but the one who betrayed me is not Carlos Ghosn.”

Takano described how Ghosn had been barred from seeing his wife, in what Takano called a violation of human rights, and that Ghosn worried whether he would get a fair trial because of prosecutors’ leaks to the media and the prospect that the legal process may take years.

Ghosn, who was awaiting trial in Japan on financial misconduct charges, was last seen on surveillance video leaving his Tokyo home alone, on Dec. 29, presumably to board his getaway plane.

Although the security cameras at his home were on 24 hours, the footage was only required to be submitted to the court once a month, on the 15th, according to lawyers’ documents detailing Ghosn’s bail conditions.

Takano, the main lawyer on Ghosn’s team in charge of his bail, acknowledged most suspects would not be able to pull off an escape like Ghosn’s, but if they could, “they certainly would have tried,” he said.

Takano said he told Ghosn that in all the cases he has handled, there has been none in which the evidence was so scant, and that the chances for winning an innocent verdict were good, even if the trial weren’t fair.

Takano said the last time he saw Ghosn was Christmas Eve, when he was sitting in on the one-hour video call between Ghosn and his wife Carole. A lawyer’s presence is required for the calls, and the length of the call is also restricted, under the bail conditions.

Takano, who is fluent in English, quoted Ghosn as expressing his unfailing love for his family, ending the call with an “I love you.”

Ghosn is known for never having missed a Christmas with his family despite the arduous schedule of an auto executive.

Takano said he had never before felt such disgust over Japan’s legal system.

He apologized to Ghosn after the call, saying he felt shame, and promised to do his utmost in the court case.

Ghosn did not reply, Takano recalled in the blog post that says the opinions are his personal and not of the entire legal team.

The major Japanese daily Sankei reported Saturday that his flight happened just as a private security company hired by Nissan Motor Co. to keep watch over Ghosn stopped work.

Ghosn had been preparing a complaint against the security company, according to Sankei.

Another lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, has complained that spying on his client was a violation of human rights, but he declined to say who might be behind it.

Nissan was closed for the holidays and not immediately available for comment. Sankei said Nissan was worried the surveillance conditions set by the Japanese court weren’t sufficient to keep tabs on Ghosn.

Hironaka told public broadcaster NHK TV late Friday that Ghosn had carried one of his French passports in a locked plastic case, so that it could be read without unlocking, in case he was stopped by authorities. The lawyers had the key. Hironaka told NHK the case could have been smashed with a hammer. Hironaka has denied any knowledge of the escape.

All foreigners in Japan are required to have their passports with them to show to police or other officials. It is unclear whether the French passport is the one Ghosn used to enter Lebanon.

Lebanese authorities have said Ghosn entered the country legally on a French passport, though he had been required to surrender all his passports to his lawyers under the terms of his bail. He also holds Brazilian and Lebanese citizenship.

Video footage at Ghosn’s home shows him walking out Dec. 29, according to NHK. An earlier report said he was carted out inside a musical instrument case.

Turkish airline company MNG Jet said two of its planes were used illegally in Ghosn’s escape, first flying him from Osaka, Japan, to Istanbul, and then on to Beirut, where he arrived Monday and has not been seen since.

It said a company employee had admitted to falsifying flight records so that Ghosn’s name did not appear, adding that he acted “in his individual capacity” without MNG Jet’s knowledge. The company did not say to whom the jets were leased, or identify the employee.

Interpol has issued a wanted notice for Ghosn. Japan has no extradition treaty with Lebanon and it appeared unlikely he would be handed over.

It’s not clear either how Japan might respond.

The defiant and stunning escape of such a high-profile suspect has raised serious questions about the surveillance methods of the Japanese bail system.

Some may argue bail decisions should become more stringent, when bail is already restricted in Japan, compared to the U.S. Trials and preparations before they start take far longer in Japan, where the conviction rate is higher than 99%.

Electronic tethers common in the U.S. are not used in Japan for bail. Ghosn had offered to wear one when he requested bail.

Government offices were shut down for the New Year’s holidays, and there have been no official statements.

Ghosn, who has said in a statement that he left to avoid Japan’s “injustice,” is set to speak to reporters in Beirut on Wednesday.

He has repeatedly said he is innocent, stressing that the charges were trumped up to block a fuller merger between Nissan Motor Co. and alliance partner Renault SA of France.

He has been charged in Japan with underreporting his future compensation and of breach of trust in funneling Nissan money for personal use. Ghosn says the income was never decided, and the payments were for legitimate business.

No date was set for his trial, although his lawyers were aiming for April.

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama at https://twitter.com.yurikageyama

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2020-01-04 02:33:13Z
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Dow Jones Recovers After 345-Point Drop; Defense Stocks Soar; Facebook, Alphabet Hit New Highs - Investor's Business Daily

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Dow Jones Recovers After 345-Point Drop; Defense Stocks Soar; Facebook, Alphabet Hit New Highs  Investor's Business Daily
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2020-01-03 21:15:00Z
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Google’s identity crisis is deepening - The Verge

The biggest tech news yesterday is that the former Google human rights chief says he was “sidelined” over the proposed, censored Chinese search engine known as “Dragonfly.” Ross LaJeunesse, the executive, knew how to ensure his story would make an impact. He spoke with The Verge’s Colin Lecher and many other media outlets, published a Medium post with frankly shocking details, and dominated tech news all day. Good. His story deserves attention.

An idea that I’ve been kicking around as we prepare for season two of the Land of the Giants podcast (about Google, naturally) is that until very recently, Google was a special kind of naive. It is a powerful, massive company that used to see itself as a utopian collective which just so happened to make oodles of cash.

If you get annoyed that Google has pivoted its way through launching and killing a dozen messaging apps, that open, freewheeling culture is why.

You are reading Processor, a newsletter about computers by Dieter Bohn. Dieter writes about consumer tech, software, and the most important news of the day from The Verge. This newsletter delivers about four times a week, at least a couple of which include longer essays. You can subscribe to Processor and learn more about it here. Processor is also a YouTube series with the same goal: providing smart and surprising analysis with a bit of humor. Subscribe to all of The Verge’s great videos here!

By subscribing, you are agreeing to receive a daily newsletter from The Verge that highlights top stories of the day, as well as occasional messages from sponsors and / or partners of The Verge.

That kind of naiveté would be endearing if it wasn’t also so dangerous. An organization as powerful as Google that isn’t willing to admit its size, influence, and power is bound to stumble into problems. I think Dragonfly was one result of that disconnect.

Even if you could believe that Google could have made a moral case for Dragonfly (and I’m leaving that judgment for another time), the telling thing is that Google didn’t try — it was not openly discussed with employees like so many other Google products.

Here’s an important paragraph from Colin Lecher’s story on LaJeunesse:

As Google pushed for deals in authoritarian Saudi Arabia and launched the Google Center for Artificial Intelligence in Beijing, LaJeunesse says, he pushed for a company-wide human rights program that would bring new oversight to product launches. But Google rebuffed the idea, and eventually brought in a colleague to oversee policy issues related to Dragonfly.

Assuming LaJeunesse’s account is accurate, there are any number of motivations you could ascribe to these decisions. But I want to home in on just one: I think that dealing forthrightly with the Dragonfly decision in a more traditional, open, “Googley” way would have forced the entire company to contend with the uncomfortable truth that it is a massive, geopolitical entity. It would have popped the bubble of Google’s self-image.

Well, it popped anyway. Which means that Google is a company without a clear identity anymore. And the truth is that it was never as defined as it should have been in the first place. The old one — “Don’t be Evil” — didn’t scale, to borrow a classic Silicon Valley phrase.

The operative verb in “Don’t be Evil” is “to be.” You can’t live up to “Don’t be Evil” if you don’t know what you are in the first place.

I don’t think that the massive size of Google fully accounts for the things that LaJeunesse experienced, but I do think it’s an important factor. Almost exactly a month ago I published an essay I titled “Google’s Third Era,” pegged to the news that Google CEO Sundar Pichai was also becoming Alphabet’s CEO as Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped back. Here’s what I wrote then:

If the first era of Google was developing the technology, and the second era was growing to a massive scale, the third era is contending with the effects of that scale. That reckoning isn’t happening because the founders formalized their already reduced roles by handing over the CEO title. It’s happening because both internally and externally, we don’t know how to deal with a company as big and powerful as Google.

It’s troubling to think that as a society we don’t know how to deal with institutions as large and powerful as Google (or Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft). It’s even more troubling to think that nobody inside Google knows how to contend with Google’s size, either.

Google’s old mantra was about defining itself by saying what it it wouldn’t be. Now, Google has to figure out what it will be.

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CES is coming and that right soon

└ Here’s what’s next for gadgets in 2020

Yesterday’s newsletter had the intro to this essay, but not all the category-specific predictions. Here they are: this is both a CES preview and a larger look at some of the trends coming to gadgets in 2020. CES begins this weekend and I’ll be there with many other Verge reporters and video directors.

└ Samsung and LG go head to head with AI-powered fridges that recognize food

I am so here for an arms race of wacky features on smart fridges. Using AI to determine what’s needed from the grocery store is so wildly unnecessary and so likely to work badly that I just want to sit back and watch. Samsung and LG are duking it out on the battlefield of features nobody asked for and it is so excessive you kind of just have to marvel at it. So yes, I’m here for it. Not here enough to actually buy one or ever recommend you do, but here to watch this low-stakes fight.

└ LG’s latest rollable TV descends from the ceiling like a projector screen

These are fun too look at, but don’t wait to buy one, they’re not coming to a big box store near you anytime soon. Jon Porter has the details:

Despite promising that its last prototype from CES 2019 would be going on sale that year, LG subsequently failed to make that release date. LG Display’s press release doesn’t mention if or when it expects the new rollable TV to go on sale, which suggests that a release isn’t exactly imminent.

└ Dell’s latest XPS 13 has a new design with a bigger display and Ice Lake chips

Dell arguably updates the XPS 13 too often. There’s this model and the 2-in-1 model, and both have changed often enough to be confusing. But every change has been for the better, and this one is no exception. I encourage you to click though and just LOOK at this thing: it’s beautiful and svelte. Hopefully build quality is pretty good -- Dells can feel a little plasticky sometimes.

But what’s undeniable is that all that iteration has taken Dell to a place where it’s making laptops that make even the most recent MacBooks look dowdy and old.

True story: I was typing on my MacBook Pro over the holidays and there was somebody who works far way from the tech industry hunting around the rooms until he found me. He heard me typing and thought it was some sort of insect chattering in the house.

└ Samsung’s Galaxy Book Flex α aims to be a cheaper QLED 2-in-1 laptop

I don’t want to pre-judge this, but right now Samsung is definitely in a trust-but-verify place when it comes to experimental laptops. It has yet to ship the Galaxy Book S ARM-based laptop it announced in August, for one thing. For another, while I’m generally bullish on OLED becoming great on laptops, I’m not sure I’d take a chance on this one just yet. Wait not just for a release but also for reviews before you get too excited.

└ GE’s new smart switches and dimmers can be installed in almost any home

If you looked at getting smart switches for your home and threw up your hands when it came time to figuring out if your wiring would work, these may be worth a look. Dan Seifert explains:

The vast majority of smart lighting switches and dimmers on the market require an extra wire in the junction box called a neutral wire, which is lacking on many older homes. This wire is used to control and regulate voltage and is necessary for many dimmers to work properly. Prior to GE’s new products, the only other smart switch and dimmers that didn’t need a neutral wire were from Lutron’s Caséta line of products. Unlike the Caséta products, though, GE’s new switches and dimmers do not require a hub and can connect directly to a Wi-Fi network.

More from The Verge

└ Google disables Xiaomi integrations for all its devices after a Nest showed weird images

Reddit user Dio-V, who said via email to The Verge that they’re based in The Netherlands, said they saw images of an enclosed porch, a sleeping man in a chair, and a sleeping baby in a crib. Dio-V told The Verge he has been contacted by Google about the post, but so far had not heard from Xiaomi.

└ A pop-up YouTube account might have locked down Rolling Stones rarities for decades

What a weird story! Copyright leads to so many strange outcomes. Who gets paid, how, why, and when is getting ever more complicated as antiquated laws buckle under the stress of the internet’s new distribution models. There’s nobody better to explain it than Dani Deahl:

All the recordings turned 50 years old in 2019, meaning they were slated to become public domain in the European Union unless they were published in some form before the end of the year. But it’s unclear if fleeting YouTube uploads are enough to satisfy the EU’s publishing requirements, according to Zvi S. Rosen, lecturer at the George Washington University School of Law. “It’s really kind of pushing the edge of what’s possible under the law,” Rosen tells The Verge.

└ The IRS is done letting TurboTax easily steer you away from filing taxes for free

Shame on Intuit for its lobbying behavior. Shame on congress and the IRS for not pushing to make free tax filing readily available. Thank Pro Publica for its dogged reporting on this, which will make a genuine difference in people’s lives this tax season.

└ Brydge’s iPad keyboard with trackpad is coming next month for $200

I know people want this to work and I know there are many people who actually have managed to get working mouse support integrated into their iPad workflows but I ...just don’t see it. Mouse support is built-in as an accessibility feature on the iPad, but it is foreign to the whole experience of iPadOS.

I’m not saying the iPad should never have full-fledged mouse support, but I am saying it’s not good enough yet to justify this keyboard. Then again, I am going to try it and find out if I’m wrong. (I don’t expect I will be.)

Trackpad support on the iPad is still very limited, and the experience isn’t as fluid as you might expect coming from a Mac. But interest still seems to be high: the Libra keyboard received more than $313,000 through crowdfunding and preorders.

└ Dell will soon let you interact with your iPhone apps from your PC

I am absolutely old enough to regale you with stories of PalmOS HotSync over Serial ports, but you don’t want that. I will say that it seems like we will be forever cursed to reinvent the ways mobile devices will talk to laptops for all eternity. Here’s Dell’s latest take on it, which is unique in that it works with the iPhone.

└ FDA announces new crackdown on flavored vaping products

Vape tank e-cigs predate Juul and other cartridge-based e-cigs by a lot. They’re less convenient and harder to hide, but not exactly hard for teenagers to acquire. Assuming this not-quite-a-ban stays as it is, I would not be surprised to see some tank-based product rush in to fill the gap. Maybe? This does seem like a half measure, in any case. Nicole Wetsman has the story:

By focusing on flavored cartridges (which are popular with teenagers), and not including other methods of vaping (like vape tanks), the FDA said it keeps flavors accessible to adult users who may be making a switch from traditional cigarettes. Juul announced in October that it would stop selling fruit-flavored pods.

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2020-01-03 12:00:00Z
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Tesla tops Wall Street estimates with 112,000 vehicle deliveries in fourth quarter - CNBC

Tesla Model 3 are located in a Tesla Service Center.

Silas Stein | picture alliance | Getty Images

Tesla delivered a record 112,000 vehicles globally during the fourth quarter, significantly topping Wall Street estimates and achieving an ambitious year-end sales goal of CEO Elon Musk.

Wall Street expected Tesla to deliver 106,000 vehicles to customers during the fourth quarter, which would have just met the company's annual delivery goal of between 360,000 and 400,000 vehicles, a 45% to 65% increase from 2018.

Tesla said it delivered approximately 367,500 vehicles last year, an impressive 50% increase from 2018.

Shares of Tesla were up by about 2% in pre-market trading to roughly $440 per share, a 39% increase over the last 12 months.

Tesla's deliveries are a closely watched number in the industry, providing the closest proximation to sales. It tracks vehicles that have been sold and physically delivered to customers. The number is a barometer for how the company is performing ahead of releasing its quarterly earnings.

Tesla said it delivered 92,550 Model 3 cars and 19,450 Model S and X vehicles during the fourth quarter. The company was expected to deliver 87,900 Model 3, 9,800 Model S and 9,300 Model X vehicles, according to an average of analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Investors were also watching production numbers. In the third quarter of 2019, Tesla delivered more cars than it produced. It manufactured 96,155 vehicles and delivered 97,000 vehicles, setting two personal records for the company, but raising questions about the strength of its manufacturing capabilities.

The electric-car maker said it has produced just under 1,000 cars that are ready for sale at its new factory in Shanghai. Tesla started delivering vehicles to Chinese customers late last month.

Earlier this week, Musk made personal appearances at the company's Fremont car plant and delivery center to cheer on employees, and Tesla fanatics who volunteered to deliver cars to customers ahead of the year-end deadline.

Customers who received their cars in 2019 qualified for an $1,875 tax credit. But if the car was ordered in 2019, and delivered in 2020, they would not qualify.

Tesla is now shipping its vehicles to more locations around the world than ever before, including in the U.K. and China.

This broader customer base is one reason why Tesla assured investors in Q3 that it would hit the low end of its prior guidance of 360,000 to 400,000 deliveries for the full year. The company also wrote then: "Deliveries should increase sequentially and annually, with some expected fluctuations from seasonality. We are highly confident in exceeding 360,000 deliveries this year."

Last quarter, Tesla said it was "positioned to accelerate" growth through production of vehicles at its new plant in Shanghai, and by "increasing build rates on our existing production lines."

In 2018, Tesla sold 245,240 vehicles including 145,846 Model 3s, the company's mid-size, four-door sedan that started production in 2017. By the end of the year in 2018, Tesla said it had already achieved a delivery run-rate of more than 350,000 vehicles annually.

Since then, Tesla has made changes to its main car plant in Fremont, California, to ramp up production and improve the quality of Model 3s built there, to repair its paint shop (which experienced multiple fires in recent years) and to make way for production of its forthcoming SUV, the Model Y, at that location. It also attained financing for, built and began vehicle assembly at a major new factory in Shanghai.

Tesla shares gained more than 20% in 2019, partly owing to sales of the Model 3. Tesla's newest battery electric sedan became the best-selling luxury vehicle on the US market in 2018 and remained in the top spot throughout the past year. However, with production and sales of the Model S and X in decline, Tesla's revenue also declined in the third quarter of 2019, year-over-year, and the company is facing pressure to generate profits consistently.

Follow @CNBCtech on Twitter for the latest tech industry news.

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2020-01-03 13:18:00Z
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Delta employees suing Lands' End over uniforms - Channel3000.com - WISC-TV3

January 3, 2020 5:53 AM

Jaymes Langrehr

Posted: January 3, 2020 5:53 AM

MADISON, Wis. — A group of Delta Airlines employees are suing Dodgeville-based Lands’ End, saying the uniforms provided by the company caused rashes and made them sick.

The suit from more than 500 Delta employees claims the uniforms introduced last year that are worn by flight attendants and some ground workers caused them to develop an array of health issues, including difficulty breathing, fatigue and rashes after wearing the uniforms.

The suit also claims tests conducted by employees found high levels of chemicals and heavy metals in the uniforms, including formaldehyde and mercury.

Delta says its own tests showed the required parts of the uniform to be safe.

Lands’ End told CBS News that the company does not respond to ongoing litigation.

COPYRIGHT 2020 BY CHANNEL 3000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.

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2020-01-03 11:53:00Z
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Carlos Ghosn: Timeline of escape from Japan to Lebanon on private jet - Business Insider

• Nissan’s ex-CEO Carlos Ghosn enraged Japan this week by vanishing from house arrest to reappear in Lebanon, beyond the reach of Japanese officials.
• The audacious escape, a breach of his bail conditions, has still not been fully explained, but details are gradually emerging.
• It appears to have involved private jets, a second passport, and rumors that Ghosn escaped the country hidden in a box meant for musical instruments.
• Here is everything we know so far about the escape.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

The former CEO of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, fled Japan on Sunday night, secretly taking two private planes to return to his native home of Lebanon.

Ghosn faces a length jail term in Japan if found guilty of the four counts of financial mismanagement with which he was charged after his arrest in November 2018.

Having escaped Japanese authorities, Ghosn said that he was being subjected to a rigged trial where his guilt was predetermined. His escape was initially a mystery, but details have been emerging in the days since.

Here is what we know so far.

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November 19, 2018: Carlos Ghosn is arrested in Japan, accused of hiding tens of millions of dollars in payments. It would be more than a year until his escape.

Foto: A court sketch shows Carlos Ghosn making a statement at the Tokyo District Court on January 8, 2019.sourcePhoto by Kyodo News via Getty Images

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Ghosn is first held in jail for months, as officials feared he could flee. They would later be proved right.

Foto: The Tokyo detention house, where former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn was jailed until March 2019.sourceMARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images

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March 6, 2019: Ghosn is allowed to leave jail, but was placed under house arrest in Tokyo, with 24/7 surveillance.

Foto: The home of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn in Tokyo, before he fled to Lebanon.sourceREUTERS/Tim Kelly

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Ghosn was told to give up his four passports — two French, one Lebanese, and one Brazilian, to make it harder to flee. But in May 2019 he is allowed to take back a French one.

Foto: A selection of passports.sourceFlickr/Baigal Byamba

Japan’s courts allowed Ghosn to access the second passport for use inside Japan, Agency France Press (AFP) reported.

An official from the Lebanese foreign ministry told Reuters that Ghosn entered the country legally using the French passport.

Source: Business Insider

---

October 2019: A private security company started organizing the escape, reports say, with around three months of planning.

Foto: This March, 2019, file photo shows former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn, right, and his wife Carole in Tokyo.sourceAssociated Press

According to Imad Ajami, a friend of Ghosn and a Lebanese consultant based in Tokyo, Ghosn’s wife Carole helped coordinate the escape.

Ajami, speaking to Japan’s Kyodo News, said that two operatives helped Ghosn escape: a former US Marine and a second workers from Lebanon.

Sources close to Ghosn told Reuters that the trigger for his escape was him learning that his trial may be delayed until April 2021.

He is also said to have been frustrated that he was banned from communicating with his wife, and that his internet access was restricted.

(Ghosn has denied that any of his family members played a role.)

Source: Reuters, Hürriyet, Kyodo News

---

Midday, December 29: Ghosn is reportedly seen on security tape leaving his Tokyo home.

Foto: Former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn in Tokyo.sourceReuters

Source: NHK

---

A conflicting report, from Lebanese news outlet MTV, says Ghosn was smuggled from his home concealed inside a case for a large musical instrument.

Foto: A portrait of ousted Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn is seen on a publicity billboard in his support at a street in Beirut on December 6, 2018.sourceOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images

MTV reported that a group of men, in the guise of a “ music band“ were hired to play at a dinner at Ghosn’s home, and carried him out when they left.

Ghosn is 5’6″.

This part of the story has been contested: Carole Ghosn described it as „fiction“ according to Reuters, though she did not offer an alternative explanation..

Source: Guardian, MTV, Business Insider, Sky News

---

11 p.m., December 29: Ghosn leaves Japan via Osaka’s Kansai Airport.

Foto: Kansai International Airport arrivals.sourceFlickr/Luke Ma

Source: NHK, Reuters, Hürriyet

---

Turkish private aviation company MNG Jet said that its planes carried Ghosn, but that a rogue employee took the jets under false pretenses.

Foto: A photo showing several of those arrested in Turkey in connection with the escape of Carlos Ghosn at a police station in Istanbul on Friday.sourceReuters

A January 3 statement said: „In December 2019, MNG Jet leased two separate private jets to two different clients.“

„One private jet from Dubai to Osaka and Osaka to Istanbul, and another private jet from Istanbul to Beirut. The two leases were seemingly not connected to each other.“

MNG said it has filed a criminal complaint against one of its employees who they say helped Ghosn escape Japan without their knowledge..

Source: MNG Jet

---

5:15 a.m. December 30: The plane carrying Ghosn lands in Istanbul, Turkey, having flown over Russia.

Foto: Airplanes at Istanbul Ataturk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey.sourceResul Muslu/shutterstock

Two of those on board the plane make themselves known to Turkish airport authorities, but Ghosn does not.

Data from the flight-tracking website Flightradar24 shows a private plane leaving Osaka, Japan, and traveling to Istanbul on the day of Ghosn’s escape.

Source: Hürriyet

---

6 a.m.: 45 minutes after landing, Ghosn leaves Istanbul on a second MNG jet bound for Beirut, Lebanon.

Foto: Ataturk airport in Istanbul.sourceWikimedia Commons

Two of those on board the plane made themselves known to Turkish airport authorities, Ghosn does not.

The plane is identified as a long-range business jet with the tail number the TC-TSR.

Source: Hürriyet

---

Ghosn reportedly used his second French passport and his Lebanese identity card at the border.

Foto: Former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn arrives at his place of residence in Tokyo.sourceReuters

Ghosn entered Lebanon legally and therfore will not face any legal action, Lebanon’s General Directorate of General Security later said.

Source: NHK, Reuters

---

Ghosn is then thought to have travelled to his home in Ashrafieh, central Beirut.

Foto: Passers-by and Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) officers pictured outside the house of Carlos Ghosn in Ashrafieh on December 31, 2019 in Beirut, Lebanon.sourceJacob Russell/Getty Images

Source: Times of London

---

Later on December 30, Ghosn reportedly meets with Lebanese president Michel Aoun.

Foto: Lebanon President Michel Aoun.sourceStephane Mahe/AP

A source told Reuters that Ghosn was in a „buoyant and combative mood“ when he left the meeting, and that he „felt secure.“

The source said that Ghosn „thanked Aoun for the support he had given him and his wife“ and asked for „the protection and security of his government.“

A spokesman for the president denied to Reuters that the meeting happened.

Source: Reuters

---

December 31: Ghosn confirms his escape and attacks the „rigged Japanese justice system.“

Foto: A statement sent to media on behalf of Carlos Ghosn.sourceLisa Du/Twitter

---

Late on December 31, the Tokyo district court revokes Ghosn’s bail agreement, meaning he will forfeit the $14 million paid so far.

Foto: A general view of the Tokyo District Court on April 11, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan.sourcePhoto by Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images

Source: The Mainichi

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Ghosn’s lawyer in Japan says later that day that he is „surprised and baffled“ at his client’s escape.

Foto: Junichiro Hironaka, a lawyer for ousted former Nissan Motor Co CEO Carlos Ghosn, speaks to media reporters on December 31.sourceAsahi Shimbun via Getty Images

Source: The Times of London

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Back in Beirut, TV crews start to surround Ghosn’s house.

Foto: Journalists gather around unidentified visitors arriving to a house referenced by court documents as belonging to former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Thursday.sourcePhoto by JOSEPH EID/AFP via Getty Images

---

That night, Ghosn is seen celebrating New Years Eve with his family in a photo published by French broadcaster TF1.

Foto: A photo published by TF1 on Thursday purporting to show Carlos Ghosn (C) and his wife Carole (R) celebrating New Year’s Eve in Beirut.sourceTF1

Source: TF1

---

January 2: Turkish authorities detain four pilots and three workers at Ataturk Airport in over Ghosn’s escape.

Foto: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.sourceReuters

Source: Business Insider

---

Back in Japan, prosecutors raid his Tokyo home for evidence.

Foto: A Japanese prosecutor carries bags as he leaves the residence of former auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn in Tokyo on January 2, 2020.sourcePhoto by STR/JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images

Prosecutors took security cameras down from the walls and took personal belongings.

Source: Nikkei

---

Also on January 2, Lebanon receives an Interpol „Red Notice“ asking for Ghosn’s arrest.

Foto: An Interpol signage at Interpol World in Singapore.sourceReuters

A is a request for local law enforcement to hand over a suspect. It is not legally binding.

Source: Business Insider

---

That evening, Lebanon’s Justice Minister Albert Serhan says Lebanon does not plan to extradite Ghosn.

Foto: Albert Serhan.sourceNational News Agency Lebanon

Source: The Associated Press

---

Lebanese media report that Ghosn is to give a press conference in Beirut on January 8.

Foto: In this image made from video released by Carlos Ghosn via his lawyer Tuesday, April 9, 2019, former Nissan chairman Ghosn speaks on camera in Tokyo.sourceAssociated Press

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2020-01-03 11:45:51Z
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