(Bloomberg) -- Carlos Ghosn’s stunning escape from
Japan makes him one of the most famous white-collar fugitives in recent years, joining the likes of Malaysian businessman Jho Low and Indian tycoon Vijay Mallya.The former head of Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA, who was facing trial for financial crimes, defended his move to
Lebanon by saying in a statement he’ll “no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system.”It’s unclear how Ghosn escaped as he’s been under house arrest and close surveillance since being granted bail in April following his initial arrest in November 2018. He’s a citizen of Lebanon, which doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Japan, and is held in high esteem there. He also holds Brazilian and French citizenship. Ghosn’s lawyer Junichiro Hironaka said his legal team has all of his passports, adding that it’s likely he entered his ancestral home country using a different name.Here’s a look at some high-profile fugitives from the business world in recent years.Jho LowMalaysia is still trying to bring in Low Taek Jho, known as Jho Low, the alleged mastermind behind the siphoning of billions of dollars from state-owned investment fund 1MDB. The scandal led to Prime Minister Najib Razak losing a 2018
election, ending 61 years of his party’s rule, and has entangled individuals and businesses far and wide, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc.Jho Low has denied wrongdoing that he wouldn’t get a fair trial in Malaysia.Malaysian authorities last week complained about a lack of cooperation from other countries in their search for Jho Low. In September, Inspector-General Abdul Hamid Bador said the financier was in a jurisdiction that has an extradition treaty with
Malaysia and talks were being held with a party suspected of protecting him.Marc RichThe commodities trader fled to Switzerland hours before being indicted in 1983 on more than 50 counts of wire fraud, racketeering, trading with
Iran during an embargo, and evading more than $48 million in U.S. income taxes. The charges stemmed from a multimillion-dollar chain of U.S. crude-oil deals that roiled the global petroleum industry in the early 1980s.The businessman was celebrated for inventing the spot-oil market before becoming one of the most wanted white-collar fugitives in
American history for 17 years. After leaving the U.S., he founded a commodities trading company that became the forerunner of today’s Glencore Plc.Marc Rich, Fugitive Commodities Trader in 1980s, Dies at 78 On the last day of his presidency in January 2001,
Bill Clinton pardoned Rich, who repeatedly maintained his innocence. Rich died in 2013.Christopher SkaseThe entrepreneur died in Majorca in 2001, a decade after fleeing Australia as his media and hotel empire Qintex Australia Ltd. collapsed. The businesses included Seven Network Australia Ltd., the country’s second-largest television network.Skase successfully fought bids to extradite him to Australia. An order to expel him was in place but suspended by the Spanish government a month before he died of cancer at the age of 52.Vijay MallyaThe so-called King of Good Times has been subject to extradition efforts by Indian authorities for years. Mallya is based in London, where this month he was taken to court by a dozen state-owned Indian banks petitioning for him to be declared bankrupt over 1.15 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) in unpaid debts.Mallya’s business interests stretched from liquor to motor racing to airlines. He was the founder of the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.Nirav ModiThe celebrity jeweler was arrested in
London in March for allegedly defrauding Punjab National Bank of $2 billion. He was denied bail due to “substantial risks” he’d flee the country to avoid extradition to India.(Updates sixth paragraph with statement on Jho Low. An earlier version was corrected to remove a reference to Jerome Kerviel.)\--With assistance from Enda Curran, Paul Geitner and Sam Nagarajan.To contact the reporter on this story: Will Davies in Hong Kong at wdavies13@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net, Frank Connelly, Rebecca PentyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.