Carlos Ghosn definitely won’t be home for Christmas.
The former Nissan chairman has been re-arrested in Japan on new charges of aggravated breach of trust, and may now serve an extra 20 days in jail.
Ghosn is accused of transferring personal investment losses to Nissan (NSANY) in October 2008 where, amid the global financial crisis, he convinced Nissan to take over a personal derivative contract carrying 1.85 billion yen ($16.6 million) in losses, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Ghosn later took back the contract and received help from an unidentified person in submitting a statement backing up his credit to the bank, prosecutors said. Then, between 2009 and 2012, Ghosn had a Nissan subsidiary transfer $14.7 million into an account controlled by that person, the statement added.
These suspicions, if proven, would constitute “special breach of trust,” a criminal violation under Japan’s company law that signifies an executive has abused his position for personal gain.
On Thursday, a Japanese court declined to extend Ghosn’s detainment, which opened the door to his possible release on bail. This was derailed when prosecutors brought the new charges just before Friday’s bail hearing, which allows them to hold Ghosn for questioning without bail for two days — with the potential to extend his detention by up to 20 days. Authorities reportedly also raided Ghosn’s home Friday to look for evidence.
Ghosn was initially arrested on Nov. 19, and formally charged on Dec. 10 with underreporting his income for five years through March 2015. He was then re-arrested that same day on allegations of underreporting his income for the following three years, which let prosecutors continue to hold and question him in jail. He hasn’t yet been indicted in the second arrest.
The new charges don’t affect Ghosn aide Greg Kelly, who has also been detained since Nov. 19 on the same two rounds of accusations. Kelly has a bail hearing Friday.
