Fashion Mogul Peter Nygard Guilty on 4 Counts of Sexual Assault

Jennifer Bringle
·2 min read
1

Three years after his arrest, Canadian apparel magnate Peter Nygard was found guilty of four counts of sexual assault in a Toronto court on Sunday. Nygard, who once led fashion giant Nygard International, was acquitted on a fifth charge of forcible confinement.

The verdict came after five days of jury deliberation following a six-week trial. Nygard pled guilty to all of the charges, which came from allegations of sexual assault from the 1980s to the mid-200s.

More from Sourcing Journal

Five unidentified women testified that they were invited to the Toronto headquarters of Nygard International for job interviews or tours. But each visit ended in Nygard’s top-floor bedroom suite, where four of the women said they were sexually assaulted. The women told similar stories of meeting the 82-year-old mogul on a plane or at a nightclub and then receiving invitations to visit his headquarters with the promise of modeling gigs and other employ.

Multiple complainants testified they felt trapped in the bedroom suite, where doors were closed and opened via a keypad code or a button near the bed. One of the women said that at age 16, she was accompanied to Nygard’s headquarters by an older man she was dating. She went on to say that Nygard sexually assaulted her during that visit, and another woman handed her an emergency contraceptive pill as she left.

Nygard denied all allegations during his testimony, insisting he’d never met any of the women and that no one could be locked inside his suite. Prosecutors argued Nygard’s testimony was unreliable and evasive while the defense countered that the women created a “false narrative” based on a class-action lawsuit against Nygard in the United States.

Nygard was arrested in 2020 in Winnipeg after being charged with nine counts—including sex trafficking and racketeering—in New York. Under the Extradition Act, a federal justice minister in Canada agreed that Nygard would be extradited to the U.S. once the cases against him in Canada were resolved. Nygard also faces charges of sexual assault and forcible confinement in Manitoba and Quebec.

Nygard’s company, which he founded in 1967, filed for bankruptcy in March 2020. The month prior, Nygard stepped down as chairman after the FBI and police raided his New York City offices. At the time, his business owed nearly $50 million to hundreds of creditors. Nygard produced clothing under the brands Alia, TanJay and Nygard.

A sentencing hearing for Nygard will be held on Nov. 21.