Free on Bail, Carlos Ghosn Girds for the Legal Fight of His Life
- Ousted Nissan chairman released from Tokyo prison Wednesday
- Ghosn will have greater access to legal team; devise strategy
Carlos Ghosn, former chairman of Nissan Motor Co., center rear, and Takashi Takano, one of Ghosn's lawyers, right, leave Takano's office in Tokyo.
Photographer: Takaaki Iwabu/BloombergThe odds have been stacked against Carlos Ghosn, the once high-flying head of Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA, since he was arrested in a country with a 99 percent conviction rate more than three months ago. Now, his luck may finally be turning.
Ghosn walked free from Tokyo’s main jail late Wednesday afternoon for the first time since November, a day after a court accepted the latest of his applications for bail. Disguised in a baseball cap and face mask, reporters outside the detention center nearly missed his departure, in a silver Suzuki van. He posted a hefty bond of 1 billion yen ($9 million), and agreed to remain under close supervision in Japan, where he’s been indicted for a range of financial crimes relating to his two-decade tenure at Nissan.