A former Nissan executive Greg Kelly has been found guilty of assisting the Japanese car giant's ex-CEO Carlos Ghosn to evade pay disclosure laws.
The court in Tokyo heard that Mr Kelly had helped Mr Ghosn hide part of 9.3 billion yen (£60m; $80.4m) of his income from financial regulators.
Mr Kelly was sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for three years.
In 2019, Mr Ghosn fled Japan to his home country Lebanon hidden in a box on a private jet.
The ruling means that Mr Kelly, who is a US citizen, will not be jailed as long as he adheres to the conditions of his sentence for the next three years.
Prosecutors had sought a two-year prison sentence for Mr Kelly.
The Kelly case has been a thorn in the side of US-Japan relations for the last three years.
You can see that from the response of US Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, who immediately released a statement welcoming the fact that Mr Kelly and his wife will now be able to return to the United States.
