Former U.S. Army Green Beret Mike Taylor said on Wednesday the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. State Department have agreed to let him and his 26-year-old son, Peter Taylor, be extradited to Japan over allegations they helped former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn escape trial in the country.
Speaking with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo on Mornings with Maria, Taylor said the U.S. has agreed to extradite him and his son to Japan, “And we’re standing by waiting to be extradited.”
Taylor and his son Peter were both arrested in May on a Japanese warrant served by U.S. Marshals, over their alleged involvement in helping Ghosn escape to Lebanon on Dec. 29, 2019. Ghosn faced trial on allegations of misusing company funds, underreporting $84 million in company earnings, and breach of trust, all of which he has denied.
Taylor told Bartiromo, “We’ve been held here for six months now since May 20,” adding, “So, as a disabled American veteran and my son, we’re on our way to Japan unless somebody does something about it.”
Taylor said Ghosn’s family reached out to him and told him that the former Nissan CEO was being tortured.
“I thought that Japan was a country similar to ours,” he said. “But in fact, they do torture people. Even as recently as July 28, 2020, their Minister of Justice held a conference saying they got to stop torturing people, so on and so forth, so the rest of the world doesn’t look at them this way.”
The former Green Beret said, “I did some research and checked with legal counsel, found out that jump on bail’s not a crime. It was decided upon that he is being tortured, so let’s stop the torture.”
Asked what involvement his son had in the case, Taylor said “He is not involved whatsoever. That’s another travesty of this thing, he had nothing to do with it whatsoever. However, you’re not able to produce any evidence because they only need to show probable cause, which is a very low standard to have people arrested and then subsequently extradited to Japan.”
Taylor said he’s worried that he and his son will be tortured in Japanese custody.
“That’s exactly what they’re going to do to us,” he said. “There is no surprise here whatsoever. That’s why it’s incredibly shocking that our State Department would just simply, without any explanation, stick two American citizens on a plane to go get tortured.”
Taylor added, “There’s a reason why there’s only two countries that have extradition treaties with Japan, which is South Korea and the United States. No other country on earth has an extradition treaty with them, for good reason.”
Taylor also said, with the terms of the U.S. extradition agreement with Japan, he and his son were detained without bail, and have been waiting at the Norfolk County jail in Massachusetts for six months, going on seven. Taylor later said the jail staff is “phenomenal” and “They are very professional, they have a great atmosphere, they treat everybody with the utmost respect” but “the bottom line is it’s still the county jail.”
Bartiromo asked Taylor about Ghosn’s escape, in which he allegedly hid in a music equipment box as it was flying out of Japan with a band on its way to Beirut, Lebanon.
“We are being advised, don’t give information on other people who had the idea, so it’s best not to comment on that part. But suffice to say that he is not being tortured anymore. He’s safe and in his home country,” Taylor said.
During the interview, Taylor said, “I can’t believe for one second that our president of this United States, President Trump does – knows about this, because I just can’t see him sending his veterans and American citizens overseas to be tortured for something that should have never happened. And there’s no case precedent in it either.”
Bartiromo said she has reached out to the State Department and Department of Justice, regarding the case and “I’ve not heard back in an official capacity.”
