Former Green Beret, son accused of smuggling ex-Nissan exec out of Japan

WASHINGTON — A former Green Beret and his son were arrested Wednesday in Massachusetts on charges they smuggled Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan in a box while he awaited trial there on financial misconduct charges.

Michael Taylor, a 59-year-old former Green Beret and private security specialist, and Peter Taylor, 27, are wanted by Japan on charges they helped Ghosn escape the country in December after he was released on bail.

The Taylors were arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in Harvard. They appeared before a federal judge from jail via video conference.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Hassink said Japan plans “as quickly as possible” to submit a formal request to extradite.

An attorney for the Taylors said they plan to challenge Japan’s extradition request “on several legal and factual grounds.”

“Michael Taylor is a distinguished veteran and patriot, and both he and his son deserve a full and fair hearing regarding these issues, both before the courts and the executive branch,” Paul V. Kelly said in an email.

The elder Taylor has experience with sticky situations. Over the years, he has been hired by parents to rescue abducted children, gone undercover for the FBI in a sting on a Massachusetts drug gang and worked as a contractor for the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan. The last assignment had landed him in a Utah jail for 14 months, caught in a federal contract fraud case.

It’s not clear yet how Ghosn might have hooked up with Taylor.