The Full Story - Nygard Was in Fact Canada's Jeffrey Epstein
Amazon Produced a 3 Episode Series: Evil By
Design: Exposing Peter Nygard
![](http://d-ddaily.com/images/8-19-20nygardbuilding.PNG)
Nov. 13, 2023 Update
Canada's Jeffrey Epstein - Retail Founder & CEO Convicted
Nygard was a
close friend of Jeffrey Epstein
Peter Nygard convicted of four counts of sexual assault
Nygard has been in jail
since December 2020.
Five
women testified the ex-fashion mogul sexually assaulted them inside his former
Toronto headquarters. Nygard is still facing
sexual assault and other criminal charges in Montreal, Winnipeg and New York.
His Montreal trial is scheduled for next July.
After disgraced ex-fashion mogul
Peter Nygard was convicted by a
Toronto jury on Sunday of four
counts of sexual assault, one of his victims declared, "We did this for
everyone, not only for ourselves."
Nygard, 82, showed no emotion in court Sunday as he stood to hear the verdicts,
which the jury delivered after hearing nearly six weeks of evidence. The jurors
acquitted Nygard of sexually assaulting the only complainant in the case whom he
admitted knowing, and also found him not guilty of unlawful confinement in
relation to one of the other four complainants.
The Finland-born, Winnipeg-raised Nygard founded what would become
Nygard International in 1967.
Once the largest manufacturer of women's clothing in
Canada, the company filed for bankruptcy in 2020 as Nygard came under
criminal investigation, first in the U.S. and then in Canada.
Four of the five women in the Toronto case are also involved in a class-action
lawsuit in the United States against Nygard, in which
57 women made allegations of
sexual assault and sex trafficking.
The lawsuit was put on pause until further notice in 2020, with the reasons
sealed, meaning the information is not publicly accessible.
Most of the incidents allegedly
occurred at Nygard's mansion
on Lyford Cay in the Caribbean paradise.
And most of the alleged victims were
young "impoverished" Bahamian
girls.
According to Manhattan prosecutor Audrey Strauss Nygard has been using his
wealth and position in the fashion industry to "recruit and maintain"
victims in the US, Canada and the Bahamas. Nygard allegedly had a criminal
network similar to Epstein’s in which he exploited both underage girls and young
women, then sold them off to his wealthy friends.
In many cases, Nygard and his friends drugged their victims. They also
specifically targeted victims from disadvantaged backgrounds who were less
difficult to isolate from their families or friends.
According to the indictment Nygard’s company hosted "Pamper Parties" at
his properties in Marina del Rey in California and the Bahamas, where many of
the victims were forced to engage in sexual activity with his wealthy
associates.
He also waged a relentless intimidation campaign against any of the victims who
went public with accusations against him, threatening to sue them, destroy their
reputations, and even have them arrested.
thestar.com
eraoflight.com
Fall From Grace is Quick
'SEX TRAFFICKING: Is Peter Nygard
the Canadian Jeffrey Epstein?'
Design & Retail Mogul Peter Nygard Sued by Son For Having Him Raped on Nygard's
Island Retreat
2/14/20: Peter Nygard, meet Jeffrey Epstein.
The
Canadian fashion kingpin has fallen into sordid company amid explosive
allegations he sexually assaulted a slew of underage women — including three
14-year-olds.
Ten unidentified women have filed a class-action lawsuit accusing Nygard, 77, of
rape and sex trafficking. The allegations are eerily similar to the
twisted web woven by hedge fund pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“Nygard lured and enticed young, impressionable, and often impoverished
children and women with cash payments and false promises of lucrative
modelling opportunities in order to assault, rape, and sodomize them. When the
victims were not swayed by promises, many were drugged to force compliance with
Nygard’s sexual desires,” the plaintiffs said in a press release.
Nygard allegedly has a database of more than 7,500 underage girls and women.
Wanted to make a man of his 14 yr old son who was still a virgin.
Most of the incidents allegedly occurred at Nygard’s mansion on Lyford Cay in
the Caribbean paradise. And most of the alleged victims were young
“impoverished” Bahamian girls.
3/18/20:
Nine Nygard designer and retail companies
filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. and Canada after sex-trafficking allegations
against the mogul.
•
Nygard is based in Winnipeg, but has operations
around the world, according to its
website
•
Federal agents raided co.’s Manhattan offices
and Peter Nygard’s Los Angeles home last month as part of a sexual assault
investigation into the founder,
per New York Times
•
Nygard stepped down as chairman, per Times
4/30/20:
Design & Retail Companies & Hundreds of Jobs Wiped Out:
Fashion Mogul Peter Nygard Business Properties to Be Sold
7/11/20: Nygard's final sale: The rise and fall of the Polyester King's retail
empire
Lawsuit Goes From 10 to 57 Women Alleging Rape & Sex Trafficked
On Friday the 13th of March, as Canada went into lockdown, Peter Nygard’s retail
fashion empire was still standing, barely.
As
it closed its distribution centres that day, with 1,450
employees operating 169 retail stores and a large wholesale operation, it
was hardly at the peak of its influence.
But it was still an astonishing and profitable success, built on cheap and
cheerful fast fashion for the modern cost-conscious woman of style, which had
made Nygard fabulously wealthy and tagged him with the nickname of the Polyester
King.
What a difference a few months can make. A court decision in March took
corporate control out of Nygard’s hands, as his companies were put into
receivership, and warehouses in Toronto and Winnipeg put up for sale.
This week came news that an intellectual property firm will be auctioning off
the brands that made him rich, including the labels Nygard, Alia and TanJay,
the last of which refers to Jacob Fashions, which was the first company Nygard
bought into after leaving Eaton’s as an ambitious young salesman in the 1960s.
In 1980 he was charged with the rape of an 18-year-old woman, but was not
tried or convicted. He settled with three women who filed sexual harassment
complaints in Manitoba. He brought a Charter challenge to a blood test over
a child support claim.
The world has now caught up to Nygard’s empire, however, and since that day in
March, when control finally slipped away, the decline of the polyester king
has snowballed.
He was already the subject of an arrest warrant in the Bahamas, but it was not
until recently that his property there started to look less like the real estate
extravagance of a rich man and more like an alleged crime scene, where young
women were allegedly trafficked and abused sexually.
Styled as a Mayan palace, Nygard’s house was the site of modelling shoots for
his various fashion lines, and elaborate parties with celebrity guests,
including Prince Andrew, whose dealings with Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey
Epstein have caused turmoil for the Royal Family, newly escalated by
Maxwell’s arrest by the FBI.
Then came a class action law suit, filed in February in
New York by a group of 10 women, which has now grown to 57, alleging
they were raped and trafficked for sex by Nygard,
some when they were as young as 14.
The lawsuit describes a sex trafficking scheme run over decades by Nygard, with
his company’s money, in which underaged girls and women were drugged, sexually
assaulted and coerced into sex acts in exchange for money or promises of
modelling opportunities or career advancement within the Nygard empire, in
locations that include the Bahamas compound, sites in the United States, and in
Nygard’s hometown Winnipeg.
It was reported this week that Nygard is now also the subject of a Winnipeg
Police Service sexual assault investigation.
winnipegsun.com
Peter Nygard accused of hiring ‘sex worker’ to rape his teen sons
8/17/20: Fashion mogul Peter Nygard hired his girlfriend, a “known sex
worker,” to rape two of his sons as teens — saying he wanted the woman to “make
a man” out of one of them, according to a bombshell new lawsuit.
The complaint filed Sunday in Manhattan federal court alleges the sons — who are
not identified — are also victims of the businessman.
“Hopefully
my experience will help other people be able to speak the truth about what’s
happened to them,” the older of the two sons said in an interview with CBC News.
The men — who are two of Nygard’s seven children — claim they were raped by the
same woman 14 years apart, with the incidents both occurring at one of their
father’s properties, court papers say.
In the lawsuit, the older of the two sons alleges that he was raped by the woman
when he was 15 years old at his father’s Bahamas residence in 2004.
He said there was “shame” and “very little understanding” at the time of the
sexual assault.
“It’s one of those things that when you look back at it, I see the pattern of it
— that it happened with my younger brother — that’s when it struck me,” he told
CBC News.
The younger brother involved in the suit claims that his father “lured, enticed
and transported” him from California to the family’s residence in Winnipeg,
Canada, in the summer of 2018.
Nygard, 79, allegedly said he wanted to “make a man” of the son who was 14
years old and a virgin at the time.
The woman — who was their father’s girlfriend — worked as a “fulltime sex
worker” and was paid with Nygard company money to assault the teens, the suit
alleges.
In the past, Nygard has been listed as one of the richest Canadians. His
empire once included a palatial estate in the Bahamas with administrative and
production facilities in Winnipeg, Toronto, Los Angeles and a world headquarters
in New York.
Editor's Note: The legal story has just begun. But the Nygard empire
has crumbled and hundreds of families have been impacted with some ruined for
life. Regardless of how this all plays out, some of those women won't ever heal.
One has to wonder that with such widespread activity and the dozens of people
that somehow were interconnected, from the service workers to his legal team and
even some of his executives, didn't anyone see what was happening? And why
didn't someone raise a warning flag? Let's hope the 'good old boy' network that
may have protected him no longer exists. Just some thoughts. -Gus Downing
Sources:
cbc.ca
wsj.com
torontosun.com
nypost.com
bloomberglaw.com
12/15/20
Nygard Update
Canada's Retail Version of Epstein Arrested
Fashion mogul Peter Nygard arrested in Canada amid sexual assault allegations
Manhattan
fashion designer Peter Nygard has been arrested in his native Canada amid
allegations that he sexually assaulted dozens of teenage girls and women,
prosecutors announced Tuesday.
The 79-year-old disgraced mogul was picked up in Winnipeg under the Extradition
Act and is set to appear in a courtroom Tuesday afternoon, according to court
records.
Federal authorities raided Nygard's Manhattan headquarters earlier this year -
less than two weeks after a lawsuit accused him of
luring young women to his Bahamas estate with cash and modeling
opportunities.
Several of them claimed they were 14 or 15 years old when the mogul plied them
with booze or drugs and then raped them.
nypost.com
1/7/21
Canada's Epstein
Canada's Retail Tycoon Sitting in Jail - Canada to Oppose Bail
Nygard Faces Opposition on Bail From Canadian Prosecutors
Canada
plans to oppose women's clothing designer Peter Nygard request for bail, with a
prosecutor saying there's a serious risk he'll flee before an extradition
hearing on U.S. sex-trafficking charges.
Canadian prosecutor Scott Farlinger also cited what he called Nygard's history
of contempt for the judicial process for his opposition to letting the retail
magnate out of jail. Nygard is wanted in the Bahamas in a separate case,
after failing to attend a court hearing there.
Farlinger sought a delay for the bail hearing, saying prosecutors need to
question two former executives at Nygard's companies who said they'd be willing
to put up C$1.2 million ($946,000) in assets to ensure Nygard's appearance in
court. The judge granted the request, over objections from Nygard's lawyer, and
scheduled the hearing for Jan. 19 and Jan. 20.
Nygard was arrested in Winnipeg, Manitoba, last month on request from the U.S.,
which is seeking his extradition from Canada on racketeering, sex-trafficking
and related charges in a New York indictment that alleges criminal conduct
over 25 years. Nygard used company money, resources and employees to traffic
dozens of women and minors to force them into sex with him and his friends,
according to the U.S.
news.bloomberglaw.com
1/20/21
Canada's Epstein
Nygard's Lawyer Calls Jail a 'Death Sentence'
Fashion mogul Peter Nygard seeking bail on U.S. charges of sex trafficking,
racketeering
Canadian
fashion mogul Peter Nygard plans to seek bail in a Winnipeg courtroom today
following his arrest last month on charges in the United States of sex
trafficking and racketeering. Nygard, who is 79, was arrested in December
under the Extradition Act and faces nine counts in the southern District of New
York.
In the first day of a two-day bail hearing in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Tuesday,
prosecutor Scott Farlinger opposed releasing the retail magnate. Jay Prober, a
lawyer for Nygard, argued that holding the 79-year-old
during the Covid-19 pandemic "is nothing short of a death sentence."
Authorities there accuse Nygard of using his influence in the fashion industry
to lure women and girls with the promise of modelling and other financial
opportunities. Nygard's lawyer, Jay Prober, has said his client denies the
allegations.
Prober has told court his client should be released on bail because his health
is deteriorating behind bars and he is not a flight risk. Lawyers for the
Attorney General of Canada say Nygard has a
history of not showing up to
court and has the means to flee.
bnnbloomberg.ca
bloomberg.com
1/21/21
'Canada's Retail Epstein' is Still Behind Bars
Nygard lawyers ask judge for more time, no decision in Wed. bail hearing
Peter Nygard will spend at least a few more
days behind bars after his lawyers told a Winnipeg court Wednesday they need
more time to adjust their submission in an ongoing bail hearing following his
arrest last month on charges in the United States of sex trafficking and
racketeering.
Another bail hearing has been set for Jan. 28 at 10 a.m. in Winnipeg.
Nygard’s defence again brought up the 79-year-olds multiple health
complications, which they say means death is all but certain if he contracts
COVID-19 behind bars. Defence lawyer Jay Prober called their bail plan “rock
solid,” and said because of Nygard’s condition, health care workers would be at
the property 24/7.
Federal lawyers say the seriousness of the allegations Peter Nygard faces
in the United States outweighs any risk the Canadian fashion mogul faces
behind bars.
Nygard was arrested last month in Winnipeg under the Extradition Act and
faces nine charges in the Southern District of New York, including sex
trafficking and racketeering.
globalnews.ca
Read the
Daily's previous coverage of the Nygard scandal & fallout:
Feb. 14 |
Feb. 19 |
Feb. 26 |
May 6
The Daily's Special
Report from March:
The #MeToo Impact on Retail - The End of the Old Guard Era
![](http://d-ddaily.com/images/MeTooImpactOnRetail-small.png)
20+ Retailers, 10+ CEOs, Dozens More Sr. Execs Involved
In this Special Report, we put together a timeline chronicling #MeToo scandals
involving retailers in recent years, starting with the infamous Dov Charney/American
Apparel scandal of 2014.
While our timeline shows over 20 retail companies, 10 CEOs and dozens more
C-Level executives involved, we are limited to reporting only what has been made
publicly available. It's safe to say there are many, many other cases that have
gone unreported.
See the #MeToo Retail Timeline here.