(computer screen sound) - Kansai Airport, Japan. It's close to midnight
on December 30th, 2019. An ex-American Green Beret, and his son approach the security check carrying a large black box. Airport Security asks,"What's inside?" And the ex-Green Beret
replies, "Audio equipment." After a long tense moment, security waves the pair
through to their gate. Luckily for the Americans, the box is too big to
send through the scanner. But had security just opened it, they would've found something
way more interesting than simple audio equipment. The fugitive ex-CEO of Nissan
escaping the stranglehold of the Japanese justice system. But they didn't open it. And Carlos Ghosn was finally free. Why was he running? Why did Japan hate him? Was he framed? Well today we're gonna find out. This is everything you need to know, to get up to speed on Carlos Ghosn. (fast-paced arcade music) Big announcement. Probably the biggest
announcement we've ever made. The entire Donut crew is going on tour! We are gonna come to your town. If you live in five very specific cities. - That's right. (group laughs) - It's gonna be so good.
(group laughs) - It's a live theater experience, based on all of our YouTubey stuff. You're gonna be hearing
about some car stuff, some tool stuff. - Some joke stuff, lots
of audience participation. It's gonna be a really, really fun time. Tickets go on sale Friday, April 8th. There's also VIP tickets available. Those are very limited. So if you wanna meet us in-person, and take selfies, or whatever. And ask us questions. You better hurry and get those. - This is new. I'm new. Come check us out.
(speaker laughs) - We're really, really,
really excited about this. I'm really, really, really excited to perform live for you guys. Excited to meet you guys, and excited to be in your town. So go to donutlive.com. Get you tickets today. I can't wait to meet you. If you asked a screenwriter to create a larger-than-life, boss character. Who's cunning, callous, and maybe a little evil. You'd get Carlos Ghosn. Carlos is a polarizing figure in the corporate automotive world. But he's also driven, smart, and has lived a million lives. He has nicknames like people-killer, due to the snap decisions he makes that result in tens of thousands of people losing their jobs. But if he didn't do what he had to do, there's a good chance that
Nissan wouldn't be around today. So does that make him a villain? I don't know. To understand, we're gonna
have to take a look back at the state of Nissan in the 1990s. (static television sound) Now around here, we think of the 1990s as the
Golden Era of Japanese cars, and right at the center of
the JDM universe was Nissan. Around this time they rolled
out cars like the 180SX. The S14, and S15 Silvias. Z32 300ZX. R33 G-TR, and R34 Skyline. Whee! (static television sound) I just wanna emphasize, how unusual and cool it is that
a company as big as Nissan, offered this many sports
cars at the same time! These cars were balanced. They handled great. And they could take a ton of boost, which quickly made them
favorites for car enthusiasts, around the world. From Japan to Australia, to the U.S. People sang their praises. But on the business side, Nissan was failing harder
than Joe Weber on a skate box. (skateboard falling) Nissan spent a ton of money, to develop and produce these cars, to develop and produce these cars, like way too much money. Their supply chain used
an antiquated system. So they spent 15 to 25% more money than other car manufacturers,
just on supplies. But they priced their cars competitively, and not based on their
manufacturing costs. Which means that for every
car that they sold in the U.S. They were losing about a thousand dollars. (car crashes) (retro electronic music) If you're selling something, you wanna make more money
than you spend on it. (static television sound) As the 90's came to an end, Nissan had not made a
profit in eight years. And they were more than
$20 billion in debt. They were in bad shape, and something needed to happen, or else they would go extinct. (dinosaur roars) Enter Carlos Ghosn.
(jackpot machine music) Beginning in 1978, Ghosn spent 18 years working at Michelin, Europe's largest tire maker. He climbed the ranks from Plant Manager, all the way to COO of Michelin
South American operations, where he was tasked with fixing
his branch of the company. Now there's one thing, that you gotta know about Carlos Ghosn. My man makes moves, fast moves! He brought his branch back from bankruptcy in only two years. And was handsomely
rewarded with the title, as President and COO of
Michelin North America. One year later, Ghosn was
promoted again to CEO. And presided over the
restructuring of the company after Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire purchased it. But being the big bossman
wasn't enough for Ghosn. He was hungry for more. Hungry Hungry Hippos for more. In 1996, Ghosn left Michelin to become the Executive
Vice President at Renault. In charge of purchasing, advanced research, engineering and development, powertrain operations, manufacturing. Now if that wasn't enough, he was also in charge of
Renault's South American Division. This man loves jobs! Meanwhile, my resume is a half-page long, double-spaced. Ghosn restructured Renault, over the course of his first year. And once more, raised profits big time. By 1999 he helped form the
Renault-Nissan Alliance, after Renault purchased a
controlling stake in Nissan. And that is how Ghosn
landed his newest gig, COO, of Nissan. After only a year as COO,
Ghosn was made president. And one year later, CEO. Now you might be asking yourself, "James," "What's the difference between
a president and a CEO?" Well, just like in America, a CEO is more powerful than the president. Point is when I said Ghosn makes huge, ambitious, get-outta-my-way moves. He means it. So that brings us back to Nissan's awful, financial situation. Now when Ghosn took the reins, Nissan was nearly bankrupt, and hadn't made a profit
for almost a decade. Only three of its 46 models sold in Japan, were generating revenue. Meaning, there were 43 duds lying around. Like when you drop a
container of Milk Duds on the floor at the movie theater, and count 'em like Rain Man. Ghosn quickly announced
a "Nissan Revival Plan," and called for a return to profitability. I know! Crazy! The old CEO was like, "Whoa!" "Why didn't I think about profitability?" "That would've been a good
idea for this business!" And then Ghosn made it personal. And he promised that if he
couldn't turn things around, he'd resign from his post in 2002. This is the kind of big ballsy promises, only someone super confident. Or, super stupid would make. Which one was he? Now when he said he had
major changes planned, he was not lying. He cut 21,000 jobs. That's 14% of the total workforce. He shutdown five Japanese plants, and auctioned off beloved
assets like the Aerospace Unit. For fun, he'd also spearheaded some wildly unpopular
corporate culture changes. Like eliminating seniority-based
and age-based promotions, which were a staple of
Japanese business culture. Maybe it goes without saying, but this is when his Japanese coworkers, began to turn on him. So, naturally, he made everything worse. He changed the official company language, from Japanese to English. And he didn't stop there. Ghosn decided to really cut costs. And Nissan would be forced to cut corners, where it mattered, in their cars. Interiors were stripped
down of any luxury. Metal engine parts were
replaced with plastic ones. Development time was cut down. But one of the biggest
ways Nissan saved money, during this time, was by using one transmission, across a bunch of different cars. Now this isn't that uncommon, right? But the transmission they chose for all of these cars was a CVT, or continuously variable transmissions. Basically, instead of
having separate gears, the CVT uses one gear that's lengthened by the use of pulleys. CVTs are pretty whack now. But as you can imagine, they were even worse 20 years ago. Nissan owners reported
sluggish throttle response, shuddering, shaking, and finally complete CVT failure. Basically, the transmissions
(beep) sucked, dude. Why do we gotta use these bro? They suck, Carlos! Ask anybody, man. Even if you had a Nissan
with a pretty good engine like the VQ. You couldn't reliably put down the power, via these CVTs. But hey, it saved Ghosn
money on the production line. And annoyingly it didn't
stop people from buying them. Everyone and their aunts had Altimas. Sentras became the default
economy rental car. Muranos! Muranos clogged up Starbucks drive-thrus. (cars honking) Which brings me to my next point. The worst part about
the Nissan Revival Plan, is it worked. Like FreeRide. Do you know how hard it
is to make that show? Please stop watching it. If it gets views, we have to make more. Ghosn set out to reduce
50% of the debt level, and create a profit margin
in excess of 4.5% of sales, by the end of 2002. These were Mount Everest goals. It was a huge ask for a company that spent eight years in the red. But guess what? He climbed that mountain, and didn't even lose a toe. I'm talking, solo free climb alpinist. In one year under Ghosn, Nissan's consolidated
net profit after-tax, climbed to 2.7 billion.
(cash register rings) Just one year earlier, Nissan posted a loss, of 6.46 billion.
(audience gasps) When all was said and done, the Nissan Revival Plan
succeeded a full nine months before his self-imposed deadline. Ghosn then did what all normal, high-achieving corporate sharks do. He hit a plateau. Just kidding! Why'd you believe me? You idiot! This guy never plateaus! He shark swims or shark sinks! Ghosn put out the Nissan 180 plan. A brand new three year growth plan, which he also crushed. This guy loves crushing. He crushes all day. What is he? Big Pun, rest in peace. (kisses noisily) Now, as you can probably tell, Ghosn was an insanely successful, yet infamous CEO. One who took risks, and wasn't afraid to sit alone
in the corporate lunchroom. He didn't need company, so long as his company
was making money, baby. (cash register rings) And for a while, he was getting by just fine. After he was named President
and CEO of Renault, Ghosn became the first person, to run two Fortune Global 500
companies, simultaneously. In 2016, he helped Nissan acquire a
controlling stake in Mitsubishi. Which meant that he had
yet another new job, as Chairman at Mitsubishi. Because heaven forbid, he ever showed up to dinner
with his wife and kids one time. Are you ever gonna come to a soccer game? What's my position? What's my number? What's my birthday? In 2017, Ghosn stepped
down as Renault's CEO, but kept his Chairman post. Perhaps he wanted to spend more time with his second wife, Carole. Whom he'd married at a Marie
Antoinette themed wedding, at Versailles. This Versailles. Or maybe he knew it was
all too good to be true. Whatever the case, much like Louis the 16th, Ghosn's time of incredible
wealth and excess, would soon come to an end. (audience gasps) November 18th, 2018. Ghosn's private jet landed in Japan. Shortly after Ghosn deplaned, he was arrested by Tokyo
district prosecutors. A little later Nissan's Chief Executive, Hiroto Saikawa announced that Ghosn, had been kicked off Nissan's board. His crime? Ghosn along with his top
aide, a guy named Greg Kelly, under-reported their compensation. Now that's a violation of securities law. And they used company assets
for personal investment. Now the company didn't
provide exact numbers. But the Japanese media claimed that Nissan paid for Ghosn's homes in Rio, Beirut, Paris, and Amsterdam. And that he had charged family
vacations to the company. These purchases along
with expense payments were handled by, and this is where it gets pretty bad. A shell company, set up by Greg Kelly at
the beginning of 2010. Now that was around the time
Ghosn divorced his first wife, and began his relationship
with his second. Now, I get it. Dating can be expensive. All of a sudden you're expected to have fricking toilet paper
in your house all the time? To avoid reporting his full compensation, Ghosn also had Cousin Greg set
up complicated payment plans that Nissan auditors didn't sign off on. The total haul? A very cool, $80 million.
(jackpot machine music) So after Ghosn was arrested, he was taken to the Tokyo Detention House, which is the sickest named jail. Now at the Tokyo Detention House you could be detained legally for up to 23 days without
filing criminal charges. I know, it sounds like
it should be illegal. But here's something you need to know. Japan has a 99.4% conviction rate. Meaning, that almost 100% of
people accused of a crime, in Japan are convicted. Japan does not (beep) around. We could go through every
single minute detail of the vast charges Ghosn faced. But honestly, there were a lot. And I don't say vast that often. Every time Ghosn got close
to getting out on bail, Japan would bring up new charges, that would restart the clock. It was like Groundhog
Day Two, Japanese prison. All in all, Ghosn's
imprisonment without bail lasted until March. That is four months
after his initial arrest. Four months? Now, if TikTok tells me anything, that is long enough to get really good at making tamales outta Hot Cheetos. And remember, he was still
technically Renault's CEO. Until January, when
France's Financial Minister publicly suggested that
the company fire him. It is not a great look, to have your CEO rotting
away in a Japanese jail. If you've learned
anything about the Ghosn, the man does not go down without a fight. (boxing bell ring)
Sure to make bail, he had to pay $9 million, was barred from traveling abroad, had to maintain a given address, under 24 hour camera surveillance
with no internet access, and wasn't allowed to contact his wife. Sure.
(James chuckles) But even though he agreed to these rules, Ghosn would tell anyone who would listen that his charges were nothing more than plot and treason
by Nissan executives. Of course he was gonna say that, but maybe there was something there. Leaks to the media reported, that Ghosn had planned to
call a vote at a board meeting to fire Nissan's CEO, Saikawa. And reinstate Cousin Greg. Now this would've all gone down, just after his initial arrest. Which is suspicious, right? But even though this seems a little fishy, it's worth noting that both Renault and the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission, found evidence of Ghosn's alleged crimes. So, it's pretty clear
that the man was milking all his job cows for
everything they were worth. Which is perhaps when our
friend Carlos realized, he may never get a chance
to freely surf the internet, or sleep next to his Marie
Antoinette stan of a wife again. And this brings us, to the time that Carlos
Ghosn escaped to Beirut, in a box. On December 29th, 2019, Ghosn left his Tokyo
apartment around 6:30 PM to meet up with two men at a hotel. I mean, we've all been there, right? The team he hired to get
him the (beep) out of Tokyo noticed that Japanese
security would follow Ghosn, nearly everywhere, except into hotels. The three men then boarded
a bullet train to Osaka, where they dropped into another hotel, near the Kansai Airport
just after 8:00 PM. A few hours later, only two men left the hotel, headed towards the airport, with a suspiciously large
audio equipment box. Brilliant. (box banging closed) These men were later identified, as former U.S. Army
Special Forces soldier, Michael Taylor and his son, Peter. With the help of these Americans, the audio equipment box was
loaded onto a private jet. The plane took off close to midnight, (plane flying) and landed in Istanbul the next day. From there, Ghosn took a
second jet to Beirut, Lebanon. His childhood home, and a country that has no
extradition laws with Japan. (game buzzer ring) Convenient. Carlos Ghosn was free. In all Ghosn said that even
though he was only in the box, for an hour and a half. It felt like a year and a half. (James grunts) That sucks in there. It sucks. It's very scary, and uncomfortable. It felt like a year and a half, for sure. Japan couldn't do anything, about their favorite disgraced CEO. Ghosn held a press conference, following his daring escape
that pissed everybody off, even more! A Lebanese prosecutor
imposed a travel ban. All of his lawyers quit. Nissan sued him for $90 million, standard millionaire,
fugitive stuff, you know? The Americans that helped him escape, eventually pled guilty in Tokyo. And admitted they received
more than a million dollars in bank transfers and Bitcoin. Crypto boyfriend-style. I have Crypto, blockchain dude. Papa Green Beret was sentenced
to two years imprisonment, and Baby Green Beret received 20 months. A third guy was sentenced too, but he wasn't in the family. And I don't wanna (beep)
the flow of this story. Well, as of now, Ghosn is
still technically on the run. But that doesn't mean he's
been out of the spotlight. He does occasional interviews, in an attempt to clear his name. Or maybe just to troll people. There's a great one on the drive.com. I'll put a link to it below. It was really helpful in researching this. He also released a book
about his experience titled "Broken Alliances," "Inside the Rise and Fall of
Global Automotive Empire." It involves Japanese and French politics, a scathing rebuke of the
Japanese judicial system. And of course, addresses Nissan's alleged internal coup. Now this story is completely insane. But the most insane thing about it, is that it's still not entirely
clear what happened here. Like yeah, he avoided prison time, thanks to a Green Beret and his son. In a box that was too
big for airport security. But since Ghosn's escape, there have been some
interesting internal emails leaked from Nissan
execs that make it clear that there was some kind of
conspiracy to frame Ghosn. And without a fair trial, we may never know what exactly happened behind the scenes at Nissan, with Carlos Ghosn. Thank you guys so much
for watching this video. We've touched on this
story a number of times, on this channel, and on the podcast channel. And it keeps getting better. It keeps getting, it's still going. So pay attention to that. Check out the other videos. Nolan has made a number
of WheelHouses about it, and there will probably be more. This is like international,
like crime stuff. It's pretty fun. If you haven't already, hit that subscribe button to make sure you don't miss anything. Go to donutmedia.com. Get yourself some merch. I am so excited about our merch program. We're dropping new
stuff, almost every week. Big thanks to Joe, Christina, Gio and Nick, for helping make this video. They're right back there. Cool guys. I (beep) love you, dude. I love you.
I'll start....
I originally wanted to say Leo
But for some reason Jon hamm keeps popping into my head...
So Jon hamm... Lock in answer
Strictly off looks, Joe Lo Truglio