Michael L. Taylor, in front of the queue at an airport in Turkey, was seen in a December 2019 image from a security camera video.
Photo:
/ Associated Press
The extradition of two Americans accused of helping former auto titan Carlos Ghosn out of Japan appears to be imminent, after the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday rejected the couple’s final legal appeal.
The decision ends a nine-month legal effort by Michael L. Taylor and his son, Peter M. Taylor, to prevent him from being sent to Japan to face criminal charges as a result of the dramatic escape of Mr. Ghosn at the end of 2019.
The Taylors have asked the Supreme Court to stay the extradition, after a federal appeals court refused to intervene Thursday. Judge Stephen Breyer quickly dismissed the application on behalf of the court.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on when the Taylors could be sent to Japan, citing government policy. Lawyers for the Taylors did not respond to a request for comment.
A former CEO of Nissan Motor Co., Mr. Ghosn, is facing charges of financial crime in Japan and lives in a court that is being monitored in Tokyo when he disappeared at the end of 2019. 300 miles from Tokyo to Osaka, was then smuggled in a large musical equipment box to a waiting private plane.
Mr. Ghosn arrived in Lebanon, which does not have an extradition treaty with Japan. He said he could not get a fair trial in Japan, which the Japanese authorities disputed.
Michael Taylor, who ran a private security company after leaving the U.S. Army Special Forces, has a history of complicated overseas rescues. The Taylors were arrested in May at their family home near Boston by federal authorities acting on behalf of Japanese prosecutors. They have spent the past nine months in jail while fighting extradition.
The Taylors’ lawyers did not deny that the couple participated in the escape scene, but argued that the father-and-son duo did not commit a crime in Japan, saying that they were unfairly treated in Japan’s legal system and possibly face torture.
The Taylors face a potential four-year sentence in a Japanese prison.
Write to Mark Maremont at [email protected]
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