Carlos Ghosn sues Nissan for $1bn in defamation suit

Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has reportedly sued the carmaker for more than $1bn.

The filing marks Mr Ghosn’s latest effort to clear his name after he was ousted from the firm in 2018 and arrested in Japan on financial misconduct charges.

Mr Ghosn has said the claims were aimed at derailing his plans for a merger between Nissan and Renault.

He fled Japan in a box while awaiting trial and now lives in Lebanon.

The lawsuit, filed in Lebanon, accuses Nissan, two other companies and 12 people of crimes including defamation and libel, according to Bloomberg and Reuters. A hearing has been scheduled for September.

Nissan declined to comment.

The damages that Mr Ghosn is seeking represent more than 5% of the company’s roughly $16bn market value.

Mr Ghosn once ran the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, one of the biggest car-making groups in the world.

Credited with reviving Nissan from near bankruptcy in the early 2000s, Mr Ghosn was appointed chief executive of French carmaker Renault in 2005, becoming the first person to run two global Fortune 500 companies simultaneously, according to his official biography.

Mr Ghosn says his pursuit of a full merger between Nissan and Renault led to his downfall, alarming some who feared French influence over the Japanese carmaker.

He was arrested in Japan in late 2018, on a number of charges, including claims he deliberately misreported his earnings and used company money to fund his own lifestyle.

Mr Ghosn has denied wrongdoing and called the Japanese justice system “rigged”. He is currently unable to leave Lebanon, as he is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice issued by Japan.

His escape from the country, in which he disguised himself to go unnoticed through the streets of Tokyo and was hidden in a large music equipment box, grabbed global headlines.

In 2021, an American father and son were extradited from the US and sentenced to prison in Japan for helping Mr Ghosn flee.

In 2022, French authorities issued an arrest warrant for Mr Ghosn, after an investigation into whether he had diverted company funds for personal use. At the time, he said he was confident he could prove his innocence should any charges emerge.

Lebanon, where Mr Ghosn spent part of his childhood, does not extradite its citizens.

In the filing, Mr Ghosn said the claims would “linger in people’s minds for years” and that he would “suffer from them for the remainder of his life, as they have persistent and lingering impacts, even if based on mere suspicion”, Bloomberg reported.

Nissan and Renault, meanwhile, have been working to finalise an agreement announced earlier this year aimed at “rebalancing” their partnership, which would reduce Renault’s voting power over Nissan.