Nissan, ex-CEO Ghosn charged in US with hiding $140 mn from investors

US securities regulators on Monday charged Japanese automaker Nissan and its former CEO Carlos Ghosn with hiding more than $140 million in Ghosn’s expected retirement income from investors. Ghosn will pay $1 million in fines to settle the matter and will be barred from serving as a corporate executive for 10 years, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said in a statement. Nissan will pay a $15 million fine.

The SEC also charged exboard member Greg Kelly with aiding in the fraud. He agreed to a $100,000 fine and a five-year corporate officer ban. But Ghosn, his former righthand man Kelly, and Nissan neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s allegations. Attorneys for Ghosn welcomed the deal, saying it allowed him to focus on fighting similar allegations in Japan. The SEC said Ghosn, 65, working with Kelly and other subordinates, devised ways to disguise large amounts of Ghosn’s compensation.

The machinations allegedly stemmed from a shift in Japanese policy in 2009 that required disclosure of individual director compensation above 100 million yen, a little more than $1 million at the time. Ghosn directed subordinates to lobby the Japanese government to rescind the policy. When that failed, “Ghosn and Nissan subordinates took steps to conceal from public disclosure a substantial portion of Ghosn’s compensation,” the SEC order said.