Ghosn Case: Tokyo Prosecutors Appeal Suspended Sentence of Greg Kelly

Tokyo prosecutors filed an appeal on Wednesday against the verdict in the trial of former Nissan executive Greg Kelly. The court gave him a six-month sentence suspended for three years earlier this month after finding him guilty of under-reporting former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn’s pay.

Here’s what we know:

    • The prosecutor's office “filed an appeal” against Kelly, it announced in a statement read by AFP. The American lawyer, now 65, was arrested in Japan on the same day as Ghosn in 2018, and on the same charge: failing to declare compensation to Japanese financial authorities for years.

    •Prosecutors accused Kelly of helping Ghosn to conceal from the authorities ¥9.1 billion yen, about €70 million, during the period of 2010-2018.

    • However, in its verdict on March 3, the Tokyo court found him guilty only in the 2017/18 fiscal year, and therefore sentenced him to a much lighter sentence than the prosecutors requested. Kelly, who had pleaded not guilty, also appealed. He said he was “extremely surprised and shocked” by his conviction.

    • Nissan, tried in this trial as a legal person, pleaded guilty. The Japanese car manufacturer was fined ¥200 million, or €1.6 million.