Ghosn to Pay Back Costs From Ritzy Versailles Wedding
While former Renault CEO (and ex-Nissan chairman) Carlos Ghosn is no longer living the high life, this wasn’t always the case. After performing an audit in the wake of Ghosn’s Nov. 19 arrest, Renault stumbled upon an improper use of a very exclusive venue, paid for with company sponsorship funds.
The event was Ghosn’s 2016 wedding, and the venue was France’s Chateau de Versailles — an opulent 2,300-room palace once home to kings and Napoleon.
While most Americans know Versailles as a lacklustre midsize Lincoln sedan, the car’s namesake is actually a building that doesn’t come cheap. Through a sponsorship agreement, Renault was allowed to host events at the palace. However, Renault claims a Marie Antoinette-themed wedding does not fall under the category of “corporate event.”
According to Bloomberg, Ghosn has agreed to pay back the cost of renting Versailles for his lavish wedding, which reportedly featured an impressive spread of ornate cakes. You’ll recall that Ghosn currently receives three bowls of rice each day in his sparse Tokyo jail cell.
Ghosn’s offer to repay the expenses, totalling around $57,000, comes a day after Renault said it planned to tip off French authorities that the former CEO received a “personal benefit” worth that amount. French newspaper Les Echos reports that Ghosn hosted another glitzy party at Versailles two years earlier, this one for his 60th birthday.
Observers were quick to note how swiftly the French national moved to make nice with his home country, versus his reaction to financial misconduct accusations by Nissan and Japanese authorities. Faced with breach of trust charges and indictments for allegedly underreporting personal income to the Japanese finance ministry, Ghosn steadfastly maintains his innocence.
The former exec recently resigned as Renault CEO and chairman after failing to secure bail, despite a myriad of promises on Ghosn’s part. Nissan and Mitsubishi ousted Ghosn as chairman shortly after his arrest.
[Image: Nissan]
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I think this is the first misdeed I've seen reported on Ghosn that is specific, substantial, and doesn't require interpretation by a specialist in international tax accounting to understand as wholly inappropriate. It will be interesting to see if more items like this come to light in the next few weeks.
You know, Ghosn really seems like an ideal fit for the Trump administration.