Exec returns to Toyota as adviser after ’15 arrest in Japan
By YURI KAGEYAMA
Associated Press
TOKYO (AP) — An American executive who resigned from Toyota after being arrested in Japan in 2015 on suspicion of drug law violations has returned to the Japanese automaker. Toyota said Thursday that Julie Hamp has been hired by its North American operations to support its chief executive, Akio Toyoda, and advise the company on global management, sustainability, governance and global media relations. Hamp was arrested on suspicion of importing the prescription painkiller oxycodone after arriving in Japan to head Toyota’s public relations in 2015. The drug is tightly controlled in Japan. Toyota says her return to the company was not a problem because she was never prosecuted.