Carlos Ghosn managed to flee Japan by hiding in a musical instrument case

(Image credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images)

last updated 31 December 2019

It was an escape for the ages.

Former Nissan chair Carlos Ghosn arrived in Lebanon on Monday after secretly fleeing Japan, where he was under house arrest and strict surveillance on charges of financial misconduct. The plan reads like a movie script.

Ghosn and his wife Carole reportedly enjoyed a performance by a Gregorian band at his home in Tokyo, but the show didn't end when the music stopped. After the band finished playing, Ghosn reportedly hopped into one of the larger instrument cases and was shepherded to a private plane that took him to Istanbul, Turkey, and then on to Lebanon, where's he a citizen and seemingly protected by the fact that Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan, The Guardian reports.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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