TOKYO — Greg Kelly, an ex-American executive at Nissan Motor, was sentenced to a six month suspended sentence by a Tokyo court. He was charged with not reporting his boss Carlos Ghosn’s pay.
Kelly will be allowed to immediately return to the U.S. after Thursday’s verdict.
Kelly was arrested in November 2018 at the same time as Ghosn, former Nissan chairman and head of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance. Both claim they are innocent and argue that the money involved in the charges was never settled or paid.
Kelly was found not guilty on some charges but guilty for the one-year only. He was sentenced to a three-year suspension.
Ghosn was absent from the trial after he skipped bail in late 2019. He had been hiding in a box for instruments aboard a private plane. Ghosn fled to Lebanon after being arrested. Lebanon has no extradition treaty. He has since written books about the experience and made movies about it.
Kelly and his legal team, led by Yoichi Katamura, claimed that Kelly was looking for legal ways to pay Ghosn so that he would not leave for a rival.
Kelly was sentenced to two-years imprisonment by the prosecution. They claimed that Ghosn, Kelly and Nissan Motor Co. had underreported Ghosn’s compensation by 9 billion Japanese yen ($78,000,000) in filings made over eight years from 2018 to 2018.
During the trial, Ghosn was presented with evidence that included documents showing Ghosn’s “deferred compensatory.” Nissan pleaded guilty and paid a fine amounting to 200 million yen ($1.7million).
Ghosn was a star at Nissan where he remained for almost 20 years. French alliance partner Renault SA assigned him to oversee the turnaround of its nearly bankrupt alliance partner. His fall was sudden. Nissan officials close to him accused him of amassing power and planning a merger between Nissan and Renault.
Renault controls 43 percent of Nissan while Nissan owns 15% of Renault. Nissan makes the Infiniti and Leaf electric cars. Nissan, which is based near Yokohama port, has 34 percent ownership of the smaller Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motor. Mitsubishi Motor is based in Tokyo. Renault is owned by 15 percent by the French government.
The trial revealed that Japanese executives are paid less than their American counterparts. Japan required disclosure of high executive compensation in 2010. Ghosn’s pay was revealed at $9.5 million, even with the deferred compensation. This raised eyebrows.
Kelly was released on bail and is now living in Tokyo with his wife. The new U.S. ambassador in Japan, Rahm Emeruel had expressed support.
Emanuel stated that they were relieved that the legal proceedings had concluded and that Mr. and Mrs. Kelly could return home. This chapter, despite the fact that it has been a difficult three years for Kelly’s family, is now over.
Kelly was employed by Nissan’s U.S. Division in 1988, more then a decade before Ghosn arrived. He became a representative director in 2012 and was the first American to join Nissan’s board. Kelly was primarily involved in human resources and legal counsel.
Two Americans were also extradited from the U.S. and brought to Japan for smuggling Ghosn. They were found guilty in July 2021. His son Peter was sentenced for one year and eighteen months, while Michael Taylor was sentenced at two years.
Japanese criminal trials have a conviction rate of more than 99 percent.
