The extradition of two Americans accused of helping him smuggle with the former titanic car Carlos Ghosn to leave Japan seems imminent, after the US Supreme Court on Saturday rejected the couple’s legal appeal.
The decision puts an end to a nine-month legal effort by Michael L. Taylor and his son Peter M. Taylor to avoid being sent to Japan to face criminal charges resulting from Mr Ghosn’s dramatic escape at the end of 2019.
Taylor asked the Supreme Court to suspend extradition after a federal court of appeals on Thursday refused to intervene. Judge Stephen Breyer quickly dismissed the application on behalf of the court.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on when Taylor could be sent to Japan, citing government policy. Taylor’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
A former executive director of Nissan Motor Co., Mr. Ghosn was facing charges of financial crime in Japan and was living in a court-monitored house in Tokyo when he disappeared in late 2019. In a Hollywood-worthy plot, he took a 300-mile bullet train from Tokyo to Osaka was then smuggled into a large box of music equipment on a waiting private jet.