Japanese court upholds conviction of American who helped fugitive former Nissan chief hide pay

TOKYO (AP) — The conviction of a former American Nissan executive on charges of helping fugitive former Chairman Carlos Ghosn hide income was upheld by a Japanese appeals court Tuesday, which also rejected prosecutors’ bid to overturn his acquittals on other counts.

Greg Kelly, a lawyer and former executive vice president at Nissan Motor Corp, was convicted in 2022 of charges related to only one of eight years during which prosecutors said he under-reported Ghosn’s income. Kelly, who received a 6-month sentence suspended for three years and was allowed to return to Tennessee, did not attend the hearing.

Yoichi Kitamura, Kelly’s attorney, said he will appeal to the Japanese Supreme Court.

Prosecutors, who sought to overturn Kelly’s acquittals for the other seven years, declined to comment. Both sides have 15 days to appeal.

“I’m disappointed,” Kelly said in a telephone interview, stressing that the overall finding was favorable.

“But this is not the end. And I’m confident that we will prevail, as we will appeal this decision,” he said.

The latest ruling means the six-year battle over the alleged scheme to hide Ghosn’s pay continues.

Ghosn, who became chairman of Nissan after years working in alliance partner Renault, is widely credited with turning around the Japanese carmaker. He was hailed as a business genius until his relationship with the company broke down for reasons that analysts say are related to his foreign management style in an old-fashioned Japanese company.

Prosecutors and the company said that after the board cut his pay by nearly half, he conspired with Kelly and other company officials to secure secret promises of future compensation.

Ghosn and Kelly were arrested in late 2018 in separate but coordinated operations when they returned to Japan for meetings at Nissan.

Ghosn was charged with underreporting his compensation and with breach of trust. He fled to Lebanon while out on bail in December 2019, hiding in a box for musical instruments carried by two Americans who were later extradited from the U.S., found guilty and served nearly two years in Japan.

Ghosn, who says he is innocent, is unlikely to ever stand trial as Lebanon has no extradition agreement with Japan.

Kelly has repeatedly said he was merely working for Nissan’s interests, and the issue should have been sorted out in a board room, not a courtroom.

Kelly still faces a civil lawsuit filed by Nissan, alleging 4 billion yen ($26 million) in damages. Nissan, based in the port city of Yokohama, south of Tokyo, acknowledged the case is ongoing but declined to comment.

Nissan, having sunk into losses over the last quarter amid drooping sales, is in talks with Japanese rival Honda Motor Co. to integrate their business through a joint holding company.

The Ghosn debacle has long been seen in Japan as a reflection of the difficulties in forging international business alliances.

In Japan, less than 1% of criminal cases results in verdicts of innocence, according to the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.

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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: