Five Years After He Escaped in a Crate, Fugitive Carlos Ghosn Is Teaching Business Strategy

It's been five years since Carlos Ghosn escaped from Japan to Lebanon, accused of siphoning off millions of dollars from the car companies he ran, Nissan and Renault.

- RORY JONES

He wakes up every morning at 5:30 a.m. His wife, Carole, wakes up later, and the two walk the beach with their golden retriever, Melqart—named for a Phoenician god who symbolized life and death—or exercise with a personal trainer in the $20 million pink mansion that Nissan claims is owned by the company.

Other days, Ghosn takes out his 120-foot yacht, which Nissan also claims, though he never leaves Lebanese waters.

With Lebanese, French, and Brazilian passports, Ghosn once described himself as a citizen of the globe. But after fleeing from Japan by hiding in an audio-equipment box on a private jet, he remains an international fugitive and is stuck in Lebanon, hemmed in by arrest warrants issued by French and Japanese prosecutors.

We met recently at a Lebanese university where Ghosn runs an executive-leadership program, and his aides handed out paper cups of espresso with the phrase, "Coffee increases happiness," while his bodyguards kept watch outside.

A university colleague had stressed the need to arrive 30 minutes early, as Ghosn is always punctual. Ever the corporate executive, he wore a blue suit, with a shirt and a sweater, his hair graying gracefully for a 71-year-old.

"The ladies are taking care of you?" Ghosn asked as we sat down, still accustomed to the personal-assistant trappings of an international CEO.

No longer running a car empire, Ghosn explained that he has more time to read, and was currently halfway through the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "Trust," about a Wall Street titan who attempts to recast what he perceives to be a false narrative about his life. He's also an investor in a winery that produces red and white blends, with vineyards dotted across the mountains of Lebanon.

Ghosn has worked, without a salary, for almost five years on the executive leadership programs for entrepreneurs at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, which is about 30 minutes north of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.