Here’s the Ex-Green Beret Who Allegedly Smuggled an Imprisoned Auto Exec out of Japan in a Box

A security operative and ex-Green Beret was reportedly part of an audacious plan to smuggle auto executive Carlos Ghosn out of Japan where prosecutors charged him with numerous financial crimes.

Michael Taylor, a former Green Beret who has etched out a long career arranging high-risk rescue missions, took part in the caper, which entailed Ghosn hiding in a box transported into a private jet before being flown to Turkey, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Taylor’s decision to help Ghosn was borne out of his own experiences in the U.S. judicial system. He pleaded guilty in 2015 on charges that he bribed a Pentagon official to obtain bidding information that helped him fraudulently win $54 million in government contracts, WSJ noted. Taylor said his 14-month stint in a Utah county jail awaiting trial was torturous. . .

The flight took the corporate titan to Istanbul, where Ghosn boarded another private jet for a flight to Lebanon — he arrived in Beirut in December, just before New Year’s Day. Ghosn is a citizen of Brazil, France and Lebanon, none of which have extradition treaty agreements with Japan.

Japanese authorities believe that Taylor, who speaks some Arabic, and an associate wheeled Ghosn in the chest through the lobby of the Osaka airport. Taylor, 59, has worked in the past freeing other people stuck in tight spots. He once helped rescue a New York Times reporter from the Taliban and freed children who were kidnapped overseas, WSJ reported, citing a memo Taylor’s lawyers produced. (Read more from “Here’s the Ex-Green Beret Who Allegedly Smuggled an Imprisoned Auto Exec out of Japan in a Box” HERE)

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