Carlos Ghosn ousted over financial misconduct

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"The Ghosn family believed the residences in Rio de Janeiro, Beirut and other locations were corporate housing, whose purchase went through the normal channels for Nissan approval, a person familiar with the family said. "

Pass around the barf bag
 
palmermd said:
This story confirms my suspicion and adds some reasons for it.
Nah, it is just an echo chamber article of a conspiracy theory.

Ghosn embezzled millions of USD. Stick to what matters.
 
Nissan exists because Renault had the resources to help them out. Now that the balance of power has shifted, Nissan is unwilling to do the same? Pathetic...
 
Carlos Ghosn: A criminal or just a foreigner?:
http://www.atimes.com/article/carlos-ghosn-a-criminal-or-just-a-foreigner/

Carlos Ghosn: Lebanon stands by its national hero - CNN
Lebanon put Carlos Ghosn on its postage stamps. His downfall has stunned Beirut
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/23/business/carlos-ghosn-lebanon-icon/index.html
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
Nissan exists because Renault had the resources to help them out. Now that the balance of power has shifted, Nissan is unwilling to do the same? Pathetic...
As if Renault was altruistic. Get real
 
cwerdna said:
Lebanon put Carlos Ghosn on its postage stamps. His downfall has stunned Beirut
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/23/business/carlos-ghosn-lebanon-icon/index.html
So he paid to put his head on a stamp and was cozy with the super-rich, apparently paid for with OPM.

What a guy. I hope he gets a fair trial, and goes to jail with an appropriate sentence for grand larceny if found guilty of embezzlement. A thief is a thief, regardless of his popularity.
 
Carlos Ghosn’s former aide Greg Kelly denies under-reporting ex Nissan chairman’s salary
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/11/24/national/crime-legal/carlos-ghosns-former-aide-greg-kelly-denies-reporting-ex-nissan-chairmans-salary/

Arrested Nissan executive Kelly says Ghosn paid appropriately: NHK
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nissan-ghosn-kelly/arrested-nissan-executive-kelly-says-ghosn-paid-appropriately-nhk-idUSKCN1NT06B

Carlos Ghosn's life under arrest: No VIP treatment for Nissan chairman
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/carlos-ghosns-life-under-arrest-no-vip-treatment-for-nissan-chairman/

Can greed be good? Carlos Ghosn, CEO compensation and a skeptical Japanese public
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/11/24/business/can-greed-good-carlos-ghosn-ceo-compensation-skeptical-japanese-public/#.W_lEVOKIbmE

Inside Nissan chairman's £2.7m penthouse apartment raided by police | Daily Mail Online
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6408931/Nissan-shares-plunge-arrest-chairman-Carlos-Ghosn.html

Shadowy maneuvers behind Ghosn's Nissan home purchases
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Nissan-s-Ghosn-crisis/Shadowy-maneuvers-behind-Ghosn-s-Nissan-home-purchases

Nissan crisis sheds new light on Japan Inc’s awkward secrets
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/nov/24/nissan-crisis-new-light-japan-inc-awkward-secrets-carlos-ghosn

And, the Carlos Ghosn arrest was mentioned again on Nightly Business Report on Friday.

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-renault-nissan-head-carlos-ghosn-was-arrested-2018-11 summarized the leading hypotheses.
 
Just received a push alert from the NHK News app on this and it's currently on https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/.
Breaking News
0 min ago
NHK has learned former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn has denied underreporting his earnings in the company's financial statements. Sources say Ghosn told Tokyo prosecutors he had no intention of filing false securities reports.
 
Renault-Nissan Leaders to Meet Amid Tensions Over Ghosn Ouster
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/11/25/business/25reuters-nissan-ghosn-renault-alliance.html mentions
At Nissan's Thursday board meeting, Renault appointees also voted to eject Ghosn. They did so after reviewing 400 pages of internal findings, sources said - but are barred from sharing the information even with the French carmaker.
Carlos Ghosn denies charges, hires U.S. law firm
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/carlos-ghosn-denies-charges-hires-us-law-firm-2018-11-25

edit: Just got a push alert from NHK World news app on this and it's at https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/ right now:
Mitsubishi Motors' board of directors has dismissed Carlos Ghosn as chairman and representative director.
 
Ghosn was mentioned on Nightly Business Report again on Monday.

Ousted by Mitsubishi, too, questions surface about Carlos Ghosn's arrest
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/ousted-mitsubishi-too-questions-surface-about-carlos-ghosn-s-arrest-n940106

Ghosn suspected of shifting personal investment losses to Nissan: Asahi
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nissan-ghosn/ghosn-suspected-of-shifting-personal-investment-losses-to-nissan-asahi-idUSKCN1NW04X

Victim of plea bargaining? Carlos Ghosn’s arrest based on murky evidence, former prosecutor says
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/11/26/national/crime-legal/victim-plea-bargaining-carlos-ghosns-arrest-based-murky-evidence-former-prosecutor-says/
He called the investigation that led to Ghosn’s arrest “violent” and “haphazardly done.”

Gohara said that prosecutors arrested Ghosn only on the assumption that he had violated the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law. He added that it was highly likely the sum missing from Ghosn’s securities report — leading to his arrest as well as the arrest of his aide Greg Kelly — was the equivalent of money Ghosn was entitled to receive after leaving the company.

“If Mr. Ghosn’s crime stems from the fact that he and other people failed to accurately describe the scheduled payment in a security report, there’s no such requirement,” he said.

Gohara also suggested that the underreported amount could have been from a stock deal known as stock appreciation rights, or SAR. But if that were the case, he said, Nissan’s other executives, including CEO Hiroto Saikawa, would also be held liable since they would also have participated in the arrangement.

In Ghosn’s arrest, prosecutors used Japan’s plea bargaining system that was introduced in June through legal amendments. It allows for the acceleration of court proceedings for crimes such as bribery, embezzlement, tax fraud and drug smuggling.

Under the system, defendants can plead guilty to lesser offenses in exchange for more lenient sentencing or the dismissal of other charges. It also allows criminal suspects to negotiate deals with prosecutors in exchange for information on other suspects, which Gohara says can encourage people to give false statements.

I do agree with what the NBC News piece says:
But some observers are questioning why Nissan chose to turn the matter over to prosecutors rather than resolve the matter directly, as a number of competitors have done when senior executives were accused of financial misdeeds.
I semi-agree with what Sage at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=541646#p541646 alluded to. If Ghosn had support from Saikawa, the Nissan board, top execs, etc. this all could have been swept under the rug or dealt with more quietly.

I remember reading an article describing Saikawa as strictly by the book, so perhaps he was pissed off that Ghosn wasn't? Supposedly Saikawa was a Nissan lifer, having joined straight out of college in 1977. So, he would've seen Nissan's rise and downfall (near death in 1999) but perhaps he was jealous or pissed off that a foreigner came in and saved the company, was worshipped as a hero, etc.? And, now Renault, the foreign company was in control of Nissan?
 
cwerdna said:
I semi-agree with what Sage at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=541646#p541646 alluded to. If Ghosn had support from Saikawa, the Nissan board, top execs, etc. this all could have been swept under the rug or dealt with more quietly.
Yep, and I have no doubt it happens all the time. That said, the cover-up DOES carry risk to those involved. Again I refer those interested to a reading of the Catholic Church. So the actions of Nissan could also be paraphrased as "you want us to stick our neck out for you ?!" Remember, Ghosn was outed by a whistle-blower acting under a recently enacted law in Japan that (I presume) protects the whistle-blower from prosecution. Nissan could have tried to provide cover but I doubt they could have stopped a criminal investigation. Judging by the assent of the Renault installed members on the Nissan board that voted to oust Ghosn the evidence is not ambiguous.

It is not so far-fetched to imagine that Nissan did not have a lot of lee-way in performing an internal due diligence probe of the whistle-blower information and that when the investigation turned up suspected criminal activity, it had to be turned over to the authorities. This though is a guess since I have not read the law (and almost certainly would not understand the nuances anyway.) However, the execs surely knew that the whistle-blower could contact the authorities directly so unless they were willing to "silence" the whistle-blower with certainty, this has played out as one might expect even before we invoke any Ghosn/Renault antipathy.
 
rdhauser said:
Another tidbit about questionable financial transactions from the press in Japan:

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201811270036.html
That adds up to 9.7B yen and another 18M USD so far, equal to almost $100 Million of combined fraud and embezzlement. And I won't be at all surprised if more malfeasance is uncovered as they dig deeper.

Will the conspiracy theorists climb back into their holes, please ?
 
From the Wall Street Journal:
UJzcJN.jpg


My TracFone camera is marginal but it works pretty well at the library since I can no longer get past the WSJ paywall using my desktop computer at home.
 
^^^
Good summary. Regarding tipping off the press at Haneda airport when Ghosn's corporate plane landed... ahh.. yes. There was the video of the Japanese prosecutors boarding his plane: https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASLCM6H22LCMUHBI01F.html.

‘Palace Coup’ at Nissan was Japan Inc. Striking Back, Fund Says
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/palace-coup-nissan-japan-inc-010000073.html
 
cwerdna said:
Inside Nissan chairman's £2.7m penthouse apartment raided by police | Daily Mail Online
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6408931/Nissan-shares-plunge-arrest-chairman-Carlos-Ghosn.html
Thanks to a mention at https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/11/28/business/jet-setting-superstar-jailed-suspect-carlos-ghosns-crazy-week/#.W_5QT-KIbmE of
Another team stormed Ghosn’s luxurious apartment high up in a skyscraper in the affluent Tokyo neighborhood of Motoazabu. By 5:30 p.m., word was out and hoards of camera crews swarmed around the building — home to wealthy ex-pats and celebrities.
and a quick search on Google Maps for Motoazabu, I'm guessing Ghosn's apartment was at https://www.google.com/maps/place/Motoazabu+Hills+Forest+Tower/@35.6537162,139.7298437,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x60188ba000b43989:0x587efd37b09dfa82!8m2!3d35.6537119!4d139.7320324.

I'll have to swing by building the next time I'm in Japan.
 
Bouldergramp said:
From the Wall Street Journal:.
Amazing article. It completely ignores the ~ 100 Million USD of suspected theft/fraud/embezzlement and whines about process while trying to shift the focus to questions of intrigue.

I suppose the reader is left to choose what they care about: criminal acts or politics. Personally, I find the politics a side-show to the allegations of criminal behavior. In fact, politics are part and parcel of any whistle-blower expose unless the tattle-tale gets a fraction of the proceeds. Is there a spurned woman in one of Ghosn's collection of homes he forgot about ? Do we excuse the criminal because the motivations of the tattle-tale are revenge or personal gain ?
 
According to this article https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...hosn-at-heart-of-scandal-source-idUSKCN1NX0JQ:

“Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC questioned Nissan’s management several times, chiefly around 2013, about purchases of overseas luxury homes for Ghosn’s personal use and of stock-appreciation rights that were conferred on him.

But the Japanese automaker said the transactions and financial reporting were appropriate, the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The revelation shows Nissan and its auditor were discussing the transactions, in apparent contrast with Nissan’s contention that the alleged misreporting of benefits for Ghosn was masterminded by Ghosn and a key lieutenant.”

Hard to argue fraud on Ghosn’s part when Nissan knew and approved the transactions - sounds more like a Japanese palace coup.
 
joeriv said:
Hard to argue fraud on Ghosn’s part when Nissan knew and approved the transactions
No, it means that Nissan may have kept quiet until they stopped keeping quiet. Nissan may be found complicit but it does not change the criminal allegations. I doubt Nissan knew of the entirely of Ghosn's criminality but it came to light after the whistle-blower steeped forward. And keep in mind that 'Nissan' is ambiguous. The Executive Board was bypassed here.

The mistress is complicit and stays quiet ... until she changes her mind.
 
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