Two Americans who were in prison for helping former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn jump bail and flee Japan in 2019 have been sent back to the United States based on a treaty to transfer prisoners, sources close to the matter said Monday.

Michael Taylor, a 62-year-old former Green Beret, was sentenced to two years in prison, and his son Peter, 29, to one year and eight months in prison last year for helping Ghosn to escape from Japan hidden in a box on a private jet.

Former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn speaks in a pool interview with Japanese media organizations in Beirut on Jan. 10, 2020. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

The father is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles and is scheduled to be released on Jan. 1, 2023, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. Bloomberg reported that the son was released after his arrival.

The Tokyo District Court sentenced the two in July 2021 for helping Ghosn, 68, escape from his residence to a hotel in Tokyo and then to another in Osaka on Dec. 29, 2019, before making their way to Kansai International Airport.

They hid Ghosn in a box, passed through airport security and flew him aboard the private jet to Turkey despite knowing that the former Nissan chairman was prohibited from traveling abroad under his bail conditions.

Ghosn then flew to Lebanon, one of three countries of which he is a national and which does not have an extradition treaty with Japan.

The Taylors were arrested in Massachusetts in May 2020 by U.S. authorities upon Japanese prosecutors' request and had fought extradition in U.S. courts.

But the U.S. Supreme Court turned down their appeal in February 2021. They were arrested when deported to Japan from the United States the following month and later indicted.

They pleaded guilty and apologized for their roles in Ghosn's escape during their trial in Japan.

Ghosn was first arrested in November 2018 on charges of underreporting his remuneration by millions of yen for years and misusing the automaker's funds.

Ghosn, who led Nissan for about two decades, has denied all charges, insisting other company officials plotted to force him out of the Japanese automaker.