日产前CEO腐败遭披露：四个孩子上斯坦福大学的全额学费

据知情人士透露，日产汽车（Nissan Motor Co.）为被撤职的前董事长卡洛斯·戈恩的全部四个子女支付了2004年至2015年间在斯坦福大学（Stanford University）就读的学费。

一位不愿在消息公开之前透露姓名的人士表示，这项津贴是1999年起聘用戈恩担任这家日本汽车厂商的首席执行官的合约中规定的内容。根据他子女入学年间斯坦福大学公布的收费标准，这一项在高管层中并不常见的福利至少价值60.1万美元。

日产在声明中拒绝对高管的薪资待遇细节进行评论。戈恩家庭的发言人表示戈恩的合约得到了日产的许可，而且其中也包括大学预科班的学费。他说，这些孩子在高中班里都名列前茅。加利福尼亚州斯坦福大学的发言人称，美国法律禁止大学透露学费支付的信息。

65岁的戈恩因为漏报自身在日产获得的数千万美元收入以及滥用公司资金，在日本受到起诉。他否认这些罪状，并在东京监狱被监禁108天之后得到保释，正在等待审判。在斯坦福的学费之外，戈恩作为日产及其盟友雷诺（Renault SA）和三菱（Mitsubishi Motors Corp.）的首脑，还享受了其他奢华的福利，包括在四块大陆上的多幢豪宅和在凡尔赛宫（Chateau of Versailles）举办的婚礼。

“极不寻常”

有钱父母贿赂顶尖大学的行政人员和导师，从而让自己的孩子得以录取，这类指控在近来得到曝光后，凭借财富进入美国精英大学的做法引发了热议。

位于纽约和洛杉矶的高管薪酬咨询公司Farient Advisors的董事长罗宾·费拉科恩指出，尽管戈恩的案例中没有出现贿赂情况，但日产为他的子女支付学费也“很不寻常”。

费拉科恩表示：“一般只有外派工作才会提供学费补助，而且仅适用于还没有上大学的孩子。”

日产在日本和美国的官方文件中并未包含任何有关戈恩福利的信息。按照美国法律，高管的福利属于需要纳税的薪酬，而美国的上市公司必须向投资者公布相关信息。美国证券与交易委员会（U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission）已经着手调查位于横滨的日产是否准确地公布了高管薪酬。日产表示会予以配合。

奢华豪宅

日本法律要求公司在财报中公布高薪管理人员的薪酬，但并不要求它们列出福利情况。

日产表示，除获得日产、雷诺和三菱总计1,690万美元的薪水之外，戈恩在2017年还从荷兰合资企业日产-三菱BV（Nissan-Mitsubishi BV）获得了890万美元补偿，却没有得到两家公司中任何一家的同意。由联盟出资的另外两家荷兰公司由于为戈恩在贝鲁特和里约热内卢购置与装修豪宅，以及为戈恩与他妻子和其他8对夫妻去年在里约热内卢嘉年华的庆典提供补贴而遭到审查。

另外，雷诺还发现，在2016年公司向凡尔赛宫进行慈善捐款后，戈恩在凡尔赛宫举行的玛丽·安托瓦内特主题的婚礼上获得了5万欧元（合5.7万美元）的“私人报酬”。戈恩表示他已经退还了这笔费用。

戈恩至少两个孩子就读过的巴黎附近的私立高中，以及两个女儿参加的成人礼舞会也得到了雷诺-日产联盟的慈善捐赠。

戈恩的长女卡洛琳2008年从斯坦福大学毕业，随后女儿纳丁和玛雅分别于2011年和2013年毕业，儿子安东尼则在2015年毕业。

雷诺向斯坦福大学至少进行过一次慈善捐赠。斯坦福大学的官方网站将这家法国公司列为2016-2017学年的企业捐赠者之一，不过上面没有列出捐赠数额，也没有表明学校在戈恩子女就读期间是否受到过捐赠。雷诺并未回应任何关于捐赠的问题，斯坦福大学确认收到过一次捐赠，但也拒绝提供相关细节。

学校在邮件中写道：“斯坦福将捐赠视为捐赠者与大学之间的机密事务。没有得到捐赠者的许可，我们不会共享捐赠信息。”

在捐赠之外，斯坦福大学和巴黎的雷诺公司还有其他经济往来。雷诺不在美国进行商业运作，不过在斯坦福大学园区附近的硅谷建有研究实验室。它与日产、三菱以及另外35家公司都是斯坦福工程学院在2008年成立的汽车研究中心（Center for Automotive Research）的“合作伙伴”。每家公司每年会支付3.2万美元支持中心的研究。

戈恩是一位经常抛头露面的公共演说家。尽管他也会在其他大学发言，但在子女就读斯坦福大学期间，他至少在学校里公开出现过5次。斯坦福的网站显示，他曾于2007年、2010年和2014年在斯坦福大学商学院致辞，于2011年在经济政策研究院做过展示，还于2013年在汽车研究中心发表过演讲。（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正

Nissan Motor Co. paid tuition for all four of ousted chairman Carlos Ghosn’s children when they attended Stanford University between 2004 and 2015, according to people familiar with the matter.

The perk was part of Ghosn’s employment contract from 1999, when he was hired as chief executive officer of the Japanese carmaker, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public. The benefit, which isn’t common among top executives, would have been worth at least $601,000, according to fee schedules published by Stanford during the years his children were enrolled.

In a statement, Nissan declined to comment on the details of executive compensation packages. A spokesman for the family said Ghosn’s contract was approved by Nissan and also included payment of pre-university tuition fees. The children graduated at or near the top of their high school classes, he said. A spokesman for Stanford in California said U.S. law prevented the university from giving out information about tuition payments.

Ghosn, 65, has been charged in Japan with under-reporting his income by tens of millions of dollars at Nissan and misusing company funds. He has denied wrongdoing and is awaiting trial on bail after spending 108 days in a Tokyo prison. The Stanford tuition adds to a list of lavish extras Ghosn enjoyed as the head of Nissan and its alliance partners Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., including luxury residences on four continents and a wedding party at the Chateau of Versailles.

‘Highly Unusual’

The advantage of wealth in gaining access to elite U.S. universities has emerged as a hot topic following recent allegations that rich parents bribed university administrators and coaches at top schools to gain admission for their children.

While no such payments are alleged in Ghosn’s case, it’s “highly unusual” that Nissan would pay his kids’ university fees, according to Robin Ferracone, chief executive of Farient Advisors, an executive-compensation consulting firm based in New York City and Los Angeles.

“Typically you only see tuition reimbursements as part of expatriate assignments, and those are for kids below university age,” Ferracone said.

Nissan’s official filings in Japan and the U.S., where its shares trade as American depositary receipts, didn’t include any information about Ghosn’s benefits. Under U.S. law, executives’ benefits are treated as taxable compensation, and U.S. public companies must report them to investors. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into whether Yokohama-based Nissan accurately disclosed executive compensation. Nissan has said it is cooperating.

Luxury Homes

In Japan, companies are required to disclose compensation for highly paid executives in their financial reports but aren’t required to spell out the benefits they receive.

Nissan has said that Ghosn, besides collecting salaries totaling $16.9 million in 2017 from Nissan, Renault, and Mitsubishi, received $8.9 million in compensation from a Dutch joint venture, Nissan-Mitsubishi BV, without approval from either company. Two other Dutch-based ventures financed by the alliance are under scrutiny for buying and renovating luxury homes for Ghosn to use in Beirut and Rio de Janeiro, and for subsidizing an extended weekend at Rio’s Carnival celebration last year for Ghosn, his wife, and eight other couples.

Separately, Renault found that Ghosn received a “personal benefit” of 50,000 euros ($57,000) for his Marie-Antoinette-themed wedding party at Versailles in 2016 after Renault made a charitable donation to the chateau. Ghosn has said he’ll reimburse the expense.

The Renault-Nissan alliance also made philanthropic donations to a private high school near Paris attended by at least two of Ghosn’s children and to a debutante ball where two of his daughters were presented to society.

Ghosn’s eldest, Caroline, graduated from Stanford in 2008, followed by daughters Nadine and Maya in 2011 and 2013, respectively, and son Anthony in 2015.

Renault made at least one charitable donation to Stanford. A university website lists the French company as a corporate donor during the 2016-2017 academic year but it doesn’t specify the amount given or whether any was given while Ghosn’s children were students. Renault didn’t respond to questions about any donations while Stanford confirmed one was made, but declined to provide details.

“Stanford regards gifts as confidential transactions between the donor and the university and we do not share information about a gift without the permission of the donor,” the university said in an email.

The donation was separate from another financial link between Stanford and Paris-based Renault, which has no commercial operations in the U.S. but has research labs in Silicon Valley near the university campus. Along with Nissan, Mitsubishi and 35 other companies, it’s an “affiliate partner” at the Stanford engineering school’s Center for Automotive Research, founded in 2008. Each company pays $32,000 per year to support the center’s research.

Ghosn is a frequent public speaker. While he’s spoken at other universities, he made at least five public appearances at Stanford during the years his children attended. Those include speeches at the graduate school of business in 2007, 2010 and 2014, a presentation to an economic-policy research institute in 2011, and a talk at the Center for Automotive Research in 2013, according to the school’s website.