YOKOHAMA, Japan – Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. has today filed a civil lawsuit against Carlos Ghosn. The suit, filed at Yokohama District Court, Kanagawa, Japan, seeks an initial amount of JPY 10 billion ($90 million) in order to recover a significant part of the monetary damages inflicted on the company by its former Chairman as a result of years of his misconduct and fraudulent activity.
The financial damages claimed by Nissan are linked to Ghosn’s breach of fiduciary duty as a company director and his misappropriation of Nissan’s resources and assets. The size of the damages claim is expected to increase in future as Nissan seeks to recover fines to be paid to the Japanese Financial Services Agency and likely penalties imposed on the company in criminal proceedings related to Ghosn’s misconduct.
This claim for damages announced today has been calculated on the basis of costs incurred by Nissan due to Ghosn and his corrupt practices over many years, including:
- funds linked to fraudulent payments made to or by Ghosn as outlined in Nissan’s statement of September 9, 2019, including the use of overseas residential property without paying rent, private use of corporate jets, payments to his sister, payments to his personal lawyer in Lebanon, etc.;
- resources and costs related to Nissan's internal investigation into Ghosn and his misconduct
- legal and regulatory costs incurred in Japan, the U.S., the Netherlands and other territories
The new claims are in addition to an ongoing civil lawsuit Nissan initiated against Ghosn in the British Virgin Islands on August 30, 2019, where unauthorized payments and transactions were processed through special purpose entities, seeking the title of a luxury yacht and/or damages and other relief.
Nissan has intensified its campaign to recover damages from its former Chairman following his illegal flight from justice.
The legal actions form part of Nissan’s policy of holding Ghosn accountable for the harm and financial losses incurred by the company as a result of his misconduct.
Nissan also reserves the right to pursue separate legal action over groundless and defamatory remarks made by Ghosn in comments to the media following his escape to Lebanon in violation of his bail conditions in Japan.
###
Contact
Lavanya Wadgaonkar or Koji Okuda
+81-(0)45-523-5552
nissan_japan_communications@mail.nissan.co.jp