Former CEO Carlos Ghosn sues Nissan, seeks more than $1 billion for defamation

Former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has filed a lawsuit suing the Japanese auto manufacturer. Ghosn has filed the lawsuit in Lebanon, where he has taken refuge after fleeing from Japan. The former CEO has filed a lawsuit against the automaker seeking more than $1 billion, accusing Nissan along with two other companies and 12 individuals of defamation, fabricating evidence and more. He is seeking $558 million in lost compensation and costs and $500 million in punitive damages, reported Automotive News.

While Carlos Ghosn has been gone from Nissan for several years, he is still causing headaches for the automaker. The lawsuit filed by Ghosn comes as the latest addition to the long list of disputes between the company and its former CEO. Interestingly Ghosn's move comes at a time when he still has pending criminal charges against him in Japan.

Japanese authorities arrested Ghosn in late 2018, accusing him of underreporting his compensation and charging him with financial misconduct. He denied the charges and later escaped house arrest in late 2019, fleeting the country in a box, before landing in Lebanon, a country that doesn't extradite its citizens.

The former Nissan CEO and now fugitive has not been shy in criticizing his former company since his escape to Lebanon. He called the Renault-Nissan alliance small and fragile last year. The controversial personality also lamented in 2021 that Nissan's electrification strategy lacked vision.

Ghosn joined Renault in 1996 with the responsibility to restructure the French auto giant. Three years later, Renault formed a global partnership with Nissan to share and reduce costs. Later, Carlos Ghosn became the new CEO of Nissan and was tasked with turning around the struggling company. He eventually led both Renault and Nissan. Under his leadership, another Japanese auto giant Mitsubishi too joined the Renault-Nissan alliance in 2017.