Fashion mogul Peter Nygard was sentenced Monday to 11 years in prison for sexually assaulting multiple women in a secret bedroom at his company's Toronto offices.
An Ontario judge in a Toronto courtroom called Nygard a “sexual predator” and a “Canadian success story gone awry.” The Toronto Star reported.
Nygard, a Finland-born business tycoon who immigrated to Canada with his family and built his affordable women's clothing brand from a Winnipeg store into an empire that stretched across North America, was convicted of four counts of sexual assault in November.
Victims of the attacks, which continued over two decades, included people as young as 16 years old.
Nygard, 83, invited women into his custom-built office under various pretenses, including tours and job interviews.
Prosecutors said he would then lure the women into his bedroom, assault them and sometimes give them drugs or alcohol.
According to prosecutors, Nygard's suite featured “a huge bed, a stone Jacuzzi, a bar and a door with no handle and an automatic keypad lock operated by Peter Nygard.”
Nygard, whose estimated net worth was reported to be $900 million in 2020, also faces civil and criminal charges in the United States.
He has been fighting extradition to the United States since 2022, but earlier this year a Manitoba court ordered him to be extradited to U.S. authorities to face charges of sex trafficking and extortion.
In December 2020, federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed a nine-count indictment against Nygard, alleging that he lured young, poor women to his Bahamas mansion with promises of cash and modeling jobs.
At least 10 women have sued Nygard in New York, alleging they were 14 or 15 years old when they were plied with alcohol and drugs and raped.
Since then, 57 women, including 18 Canadians, have joined the lawsuit, alleging that for decades Nygard used violence, intimidation, bribery and company employees to lure his victims and evade responsibility.
The class action lawsuit alleges that Nygard used his own company, bribes to Bahamian government officials and his “considerable influence in the fashion industry” to recruit victims in the Bahamas, the United States and Canada.
Nygard denies all the allegations and claims they are a conspiracy fuelled by a feud with a billionaire neighbour in the Bahamas.
Last year, a New York state judge ordered the fashion mogul to pay a record $203 million to his neighbor, billionaire hedge fund manager Louis Bacon, who sued him for defamation.
