Carlos Ghosn Sues Nissan for $1 Billion, Vows a ‘Fight to the End’

Former Nissan-Renault CEO and current international fugitive Carlos Ghosn's name may have slipped from the headlines since we interviewed him in exile in January 2022, but you can bet he's not done fighting his ex-employer. Over three years after fleeing Japan in an instrument case and holing up in Lebanon, Ghosn is suing Nissan for over $1 billion for defamation, slander, libel, and fabrication of evidence, according to Reuters.

His lawsuit, filed in Lebanon and a copy of which was viewed by Reuters, names twelve specific people including Nissan employees and board members, who Ghosn claims were involved with a coordinated plot to remove him from the company by pushing Japanese prosecutors to file bogus financial crimes charges. Though Ghosn stepped down from as Nissan CEO in 2017, he remained heavily involved as chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance until he was arrested in November 2018.

In our interview with him, Ghosn claimed that factions within Nissan feared he would engineer either a full merger with Renault or another automaker that would result in foreigners running one of Japan's most important homegrown companies, so they conspired to have him arrested. That allegation is repeated in the lawsuit; he's seeking $500 million in damages to his reputation and $588 million in lost compensation. For now, the suit is just focused on Nissan, but Ghosn told Reuters that going after Renault is still on the table.