The unusual Nissan attraction of Carlos Ghosn: $ ​​601,000 in tuition at Stanford for his children

Ania Nussbaum and Carol Matlack, Bloomberg

published

7:57 PDT, Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Nissan Motor Co. paid tuition for the four children of ousted President Carlos Ghosn when they attended Stanford University between 2004 and 2015, according to people close to the case.

This benefit was part of Ghosn's employment contract since 1999, when he was hired as chairman and CEO of the Japanese automaker, said one of the people who had asked not to be named, this information is not public. The benefit, which is not common among senior executives, would have cost at least $ 601,000, based on Stanford's tax schedules published in the years his children were enrolled.

In a statement, Nissan declined to comment on the details of the executive compensation programs. Ghosn's lawyer in Paris, Jean-Yves Le Borgne, declined to comment, while a Stanford spokesman in California did not respond to requests for comment.

Ghosn, 65, has been accused in Japan of underreporting his income by tens of millions of dollars at Nissan and misusing the company's funds. He denied having committed a wrongdoing and is awaiting bail after spending 108 days in a Tokyo jail. The Stanford courses add to the list of lavish extras that Ghosn enjoyed at the helm of Nissan and its alliance partners, Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., including luxury residences on four continents. and a wedding party at the Palace of Versailles.

The Wealth Advantage of Accessing Elite Universities in the United States Has Become a Hot Topic Following Recent Allegations That Rich Parents Corrupted University Administrators and College Coaches for their children to be admitted.

According to Robin Ferracone, Managing Director of Farient Advisors, a New York-based consulting firm in Los Angeles, no such payment is alleged in Mr. Ghosn's case, it is "extremely unusual" for Nissan to pay the university fees of his children. .

"Generally, tuition reimbursements are only considered in the context of expatriate assignments, and these are intended for children under the age of 25," said Ferracone.

The official documents filed by Nissan in Japan and in the United States, where its shares are traded as US certificates of deposit, did not contain any information on the benefits of Ghosn. Under US law, executive benefits are treated as taxable compensation and US public companies must report them to investors. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation to determine whether Nissan, based in Yokohama, had accurately disclosed the compensation of its executives. Nissan said cooperate.

Companies in Japan are required to disclose the compensation of highly paid executives in their financial reports, but are not required to disclose the benefits they receive.

Nissan said Mr. Ghosn, in addition to collecting salaries totaling $ 16.9 million in 2017 from Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi, had received an $ 8.9 million compensation from a joint venture Dutch, Nissan-Mitsubishi BV, without the approval of one or the other company. Two Dutch companies funded by the alliance are under control for the purchase and renovation of luxury homes for Ghosn in Beirut and Rio de Janeiro, and for the subsidy of an extended weekend at the Rio carnival celebration last year for Ghosn, his wife and eight other couples. .

In addition, Renault found that Ghosn received a "personal benefit" of € 50,000 for his Marie-Antoinette wedding at Versailles in 2016 after Renault made a donation to the castle. Ghosn said he would reimburse the expense.

The Renault-Nissan alliance also made philanthropic donations to a private high school near Paris frequented by at least two children from Ghosn and a beginner ball where two of his daughters were presented to the company.

It seems that Renault has made at least one donation to Stanford. A university website lists the French company as a donor during the 2016-2017 academic year, but does not specify the amount donated nor whether it was paid while Ghosn's children were students. Renault did not answer questions about donations. The Stanford spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment regarding donations from Ghosn or Renault or its partners.

Caroline, the eldest of Ghosn, graduated from Stanford in 2008, followed by Nadine and Maya girls in 2011 and 2013 respectively and son Anthony in 2015.

Paris-based Renault has no commercial activity in the United States but has research laboratories in Silicon Valley, near the Stanford campus. With Nissan, Mitsubishi and 35 other companies, it is an "affiliate partner" at the Center for Automotive Research of the Stanford School of Engineering, founded in 2008. Each company pays $ 32,000 a year to support the center's research.

Ghosn is a frequent public speaker. While he spoke in other universities, he made at least five public appearances at Stanford during the years his children attended. These include speeches delivered at the Graduate Business School in 2007, 2010 and 2014, a presentation at a research institute on economic policy in 2011 and a presentation at the Center for Automotive Research in 2013, according to the website of the 39; school.

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Bloomberg, Anders Melin and Ma Jie contributed to this report.