In 2018, Nissan and Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn was arrested in Tokyo. He was there on standard business. It turns out, according to a 56-page British Virgin Islands court judgment, the unseated exec spent years sucking millions of Nissan’s funds out and into entities with very much personal ties. This includes business accounts connected to his name and other close family members. It’s the age-old “Big Boss Gets Dethroned” story, in some ways, with a few really…well, rather interesting twists.

After about four and a half months in and out of Tokyo jail – an experience, I’ve read, is no laughing matter – Ghosn violated his house arrest by fleeing Japan in secret.

Ghosn hired a former Green Beret to help with his escape, who invited his own son and another acquaintance – a former Lebanese militiaman – to the party. Apparently, the trio looked absolutely nothing like the “visiting violinists” they portrayed…nor could they act like their characters. The ensuing stumbles read like “Inglourious Basterds” to me: Imagine the comical theatre lobby scene with Christoph Waltz questioning Brad Pitt’s Italian.

In 2022, Harper Business published the story of his (admittedly, upon reflection) almost comical, near-bumbled escape plan, written by Wall Street Journal reporters Nick Kostov and Sean McLain. Netflix also released the true crime documentary “Fugitive: The Curious Case of Carlos Ghosn.” Then, there’s WSJ’s 2023 four-part docuseries “Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn” via Apple TV, also starring the reporters.

Anyway, Ghosn ultimately made it to Lebanon inside a musical instrument case brought by his hired help. The now-fugitive holds Lebanese citizenship and remains there today. In the meantime, an Interpol warrant remains outstanding, and court proceedings against him continue without his presence.

Moving some careful distance away from the international warrant and related lawsuits, Carlos Ghosn Bichara certainly has a unique and “worldly” personal narrative. Nissan once published parts of his autobiographical writings on a still-live web page titled “History of Mr. Ghosn.” 

Born in Brazil to Lebanese parents, his family moved to Lebanon after Carlos, then a toddler, fell ill from drinking contaminated Amazonian water. His father, a business owner who inherited operations from Ghosn’s grandfather, remained in the country.

Carlos visited Brazil often and later attended college in Paris, France, crediting his mother for the move. In his words, she was a “devout Francophile.” He stayed in France for many years, eventually acquiring French citizenship. Carlos also spent time in the U.S.

Ghosn served as CEO of both Renault and Nissan and, as you might guess, globe-trekked lavishly (major emphasis) all the way up until his arrest six years ago. He even carried the Olympic Torch for his native country in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Here’s where the eye-wateringly high numbers come in.

Ghosn earned an estimated annual salary of $15 million during his time as CEO of both car companies. During his tenure, his children graduated from Stanford, as fully paid tuition was a “perk” of his CEO status at Nissan, Fortune reported in 2019.

This week, the court ordered Ghosn to give Nissan his luxury yacht plus $32 million. The ship is a 121-foot Custom Line Navetta 37 built by the infamous Italian maker Ferreti. The court asserts Ghosn used Nissan’s money, not his, to buy it. The boat’s also been titled in convoluted ways, including, apparently, in his wife’s name via some method. Current used listings of the model range anywhere from $12 million to more than $15 million.

As mentioned, the British Virgin Islands court isn’t the only legal entity involved in this years-long, messy unraveling. Among the criminal and civil charges Ghosn faces, France also issued an international warrant on the automotive tycoon in 2022. In the filing, authorities claim Ghosn basically performed the same money-grabbing ballet he performed on Nissan to Renault, too.

After all, he spent years pairing Renault up with Nissan, so I suppose there was ample time to build his alleged monetary pipelines there, too.

On top of everything else, Nissan is suing Ghosn for about $102.5 million in a Japanese court.

In return, Ghosn says he’s appealing the yacht decision and maintains his innocence in all matters. He already filed suit against Nissan in Lebanon…for $1 billion.

There’s certainly much to unpack in the Carlos Ghosn storyline…and surely more headlines coming.