MONTREAL, July 14 — Peter Nygard, the founder of one of Canada’s largest clothing brands, was found guilty yesterday of sexual assault, an additional conviction for the disgraced ex-mogul who victimized women and girls over decades.
Nygard, 84, built a retail empire hawking blouses and slacks across Canada and the United States but used that status to perpetrate sexual violence, sometimes luring women with a false promise of modelling work.
Nygard was given an 11-year sentence after being convicted in a Toronto court in November 2023 of sexually assaulting three women and a 16-year-old girl between 1988 and 2005.
He was found guilty of a separate crime in a Montreal court yesterday after his lawyers did not contest allegations of sexual assault and forcible confinement.
Prosecutor Jerome Laflamme told reporters the scheduled 10-day trial over the Montreal charges “will not take place” and that Nygard had been “found guilty by the court,” with sentencing to be decided at a later date.
The criminal acts occurred at Nygard’s Montreal penthouse between November 1997 and November 1998, court records show.
The Nygard case has drawn some parallels to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as both men were accused of committing abuses at lavish Caribbean properties.
Nygard threw parties at his home in the Bahamas — a Mayan-inspired playground with fake volcanoes.
US prosecutors are seeking to extradite Nygard to stand trial over a range of alleged crimes, including the hosting of “pamper parties” where minor girls were drugged and women assaulted if they did not comply with his sexual demands. — AFP
