Lawyers for former fashion mogul Peter Nygard were due back in court in Winnipeg today to seek his release from prison following his arrest last month at the request of U.S authorities.
Nygard faces nine charges from the Southern District of New York that include sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, transportation for the purpose of prostitution and illegal sexual activity.
Former fashion mogul Peter Nygard is shown during a bail hearing in Winnipeg on Jan. 6 in this courtroom sketch. He faces charges in the United States of using his influence to lure women and girls for sex. THE CANADIAN PRESS/La Liberte Manitoba, Tadens Mpwene – POOL)
Prosecutors say Nygard used his influence in the fashion industry to target women and underage girls from disadvantaged economic backgrounds with promises of modelling careers and forcibly sexually assaulting them.
The 79-year-old Nygard, who was born in Finland and raised in Winnipeg and is currently being held at Headingley Correctional Centre west of Winnipeg, denies the charges.
Nygard is currently being held at Manitoba’s Headingley Correctional Centre. (Travis Golby/CBC)
His lawyers are expected to present a new plan after the judge presiding over the bail hearing criticized the previous one earlier this month.
Government of Canada lawyers say Nygard is a flight risk and should not be granted bail.
Nygard maintains he’s not a flight risk because he let his passport expire in September 2020, but a photo of Nygard’s Canadian passport obtained by CBC News and published yesterday shows an expiry date of March 19, 2025.
In this photo from video taken by Stephen Feralio, Peter Nygard is with a group of women at his office in Manhattan as they celebrate Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie’s election win in 2012. (Stephen Feralio)
Today’s court proceedings follow a CBC News story published earlier today that reports that hours of behind-the-scenes video shot by a whistleblower show Nygard screaming at his employees and approaching a 16-year-old girl at the London Olympics.
“Several videos shared with CBC document what Nygard called pamper parties. Every Sunday for years, Nygard would host parties in the Bahamas or Los Angeles. Young women and girls were invited for what Nygard said was a day involving fun on the beach, food and dancing,” according to the report credited to Timothy Sawa, Lynette Fortune, Bob McKeown.
In a separate case, Nygard still faces a class-action lawsuit in the United States stemming from allegations of sexual assault in various locations, including Winnipeg.
Nygard lived in the Bahamas at Nygard Cay for 40 years before returning to Canada in 2019. (CBC)
Fifty-seven women–including 18 Canadians–are participants in the lawsuit, which was launched last February and then put on hold in August when a judge presiding over the case in the Southern District of New York entered a stay of proceedings.
Nygard stepped down as chairman of his company, Nygard International, in February after the FBI and police raided his home in Los Angeles and his company’s headquarters in New York.
With files from CBC News (Caroline Barghout, Timothy Sawa, Lynette Fortune, Bob McKeown), The Canadian Press
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