A pair of men with names matching those of American security contractors accompanied former auto executive Carlos Ghosn out of Japan after he was slipped aboard a private jet inside a large black case, typically used to carry audio gear, according to people familiar with a Turkish probe into the escape.
The plane took off from an airport near Osaka, Japan, on Sunday and landed in Istanbul Monday morning. Mr. Ghosn, who was awaiting trial in Tokyo, then took a car some 100 yards in heavy rain to a smaller jet that ferried him to Lebanon on Monday, the people added. Turkey-based aircraft operator MNG Jet Havacilik AS found the black container, and another holding loudspeakers, after the flight, according to the people familiar with the probe.
Earlier this week, the company filed a criminal complaint, alleging an employee doctored records to avoid mention of Mr. Ghosn. The employee explained to investigators how one of the black cases had been used to load Mr. Ghosn onto the plane, the people familiar with the matter said.
A lawyer for the MNG employee, Okan Kösemen, said his client didn’t commit any crime. The attorney, Mehmet Fatih Danaci, said he couldn’t discuss the specifics of the case.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Ghosn declined to comment on how he escaped Japan, where the onetime boss of Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA was charged with several counts of financial crime. Mr. Ghosn, who has denied the allegations, has previously said he alone arranged his exit from Japan.
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A Wall Street Journal reporter viewed a photo of the plane’s cabin with one of the black containers, with metal-reinforced corners, wedged into the central aisle near the back of the aircraft, a long-range Global Express jet made by Bombardier Inc.
The Journal previously reported that two MNG-operated flights had the only itinerary that matched Mr. Ghosn’s movements from Japan to Lebanon, where he landed Monday after jumping bail in Tokyo.
According to the people familiar with the Turkish probe, two people who identified themselves using U.S. passports as Michael Taylor and George Antoine Zayek were the only passengers on the manifest of the flight from Japan’s Kansai International Airport, near Osaka, to Istanbul.
The two individuals then traveled to Istanbul’s new airport and took a commercial flight from Istanbul to Beirut, passing through Turkish passport checks on arrival and departure, the people familiar with the Turkish probe said. Turkish investigators have copies of both men’s passports showing exit stamps from Japan and Turkey, these people said.
A former U.S. Green Beret named Michael L. Taylor is well known in the small but tight world of private security contractors. He made headlines when the New York Times hired his former firm, Boston-based American International Security Corp., to help extract reporter David Rohde from Taliban captivity in Afghanistan in 2009.
A person identifying himself as George Zayek has served as a security employee at companies owned by or linked to Mr. Taylor, according to online profiles posted to job-networking websites.
Mr. Taylor more recently served time in a U.S. prison after pleading guilty to a wire-fraud charge stemming from a federal bid-rigging investigation into $54 million in Defense Department contracts. Mr. Taylor through his attorney had disputed the charges, saying he was a legitimate businessman. He was released in December 2015, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate locator. The government returned $2 million seized from him, court documents show.
The operation to extract Mr. Ghosn began as early as Saturday, Dec. 28, in Dubai, according to the people familiar with the Turkish probe. That was where the men identified as Messrs. Taylor and Zayek boarded the Global Express jet, the people said, citing flight manifests, and where the two large black cases were loaded before a red-eye flight to Japan. The flight arrived Sunday morning at 10:16 a.m. local time, according to flight records.
It hadn’t previously been clear how Mr. Ghosn was able to board a plane in Japan, which had barred him from leaving the country. Lebanese television channel MTV earlier this week reported, without citing sources, that Mr. Ghosn left his home inside of a music box after a party at his residence.
Japan’s Asahi newspaper, however, citing Japanese investigative sources, said surveillance footage showed Mr. Ghosn leaving his Tokyo house alone at 2:30 p.m. Japan time Sunday, wearing a hat and face mask, a surgical-style mask used widely in Japan to prevent illness, less than nine hours before his plane left Japan.
Kenji Takanishi, a spokesman for the operator of Osaka’s Kansai International Airport, said luggage for private planes goes through the same inspection as passengers’ luggage for regular commercial jets. However, he said VIPs were sometimes exempted from such checks.
Mr. Ghosn’s flight to Istanbul left at 11:10 p.m. and was in the air for just over 12 hours, passing over Russia before descending to Ataturk airport, according to flight records. In addition to the passengers, the plane also carried two pilots and a flight attendant, the people familiar with the Turkish probe said.
On the second flight, from Turkey to Lebanon, Mr. Ghosn was accompanied by the MNG Jet employee accused of doctoring the records, as well as two other pilots and a flight attendant, the people added. On Thursday and Friday, Turkish authorities questioned the employee and eight other people in connection with the flights, according to people familiar with the probe.
—Sam Schechner, Bradley Hope and Miho Inada contributed to this article.
Write to David Gauthier-Villars at David.Gauthier-Villars@wsj.com, Mark Maremont at mark.maremont@wsj.com and Sean McLain at sean.mclain@wsj.com
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