Winnipeg: Canadian style mogul Peter Nygard has been arrested in Winnipeg. Court records show Nygard, who is 79, was arrested below the Extradition Act and was to seem in a Winnipeg courtroom on Tuesday afternoon.
Early this year US federal authorities raided Nygard’s Manhattan headquarters, a search that came amid claims he trafficked and sexually assaulted dozens of teenage girls and ladies The FBI searched the designer’s Times Square offices significantly less than two weeks right after 10 ladies filed a lawsuit accusing Nygard of enticing young and impoverished ladies to his estate in the Bahamas with money and promises of modeling possibilities.
Several plaintiffs in the suit stated they have been 14 or 15 years old when Nygard gave them alcohol or drugs and then raped them.
The designer is facing a class action lawsuit in the United States alleging the sexual assault of dozens of ladies.
Fifty-seven ladies – such as 18 Canadians – have joined the lawsuit, which alleges that Nygard made use of violence, intimidation, bribery and corporation staff to lure victims and stay away from accountability for decades.
Nygard has denied all allegations and blames a conspiracy triggered by a feud with his billionaire neighbour in the Bahamas.
Nygard International started in Winnipeg as a sportswear manufacturer. Its site says its retail division has more than 170 shops in North America.
The class-action lawsuit says Nygard made use of his corporation, bribery of Bahamian officials and “considerable influence in the fashion industry” to recruit victims in the Bahamas, United States and Canada.
It alleges he plied the young ladies with drugs and alcohol through “pamper parties” and kept a database on a corporate server containing the names of thousands of prospective victims.
Nygard’s victims would have their passports taken from them when they have been flown into the Bahamas, the lawsuit alleges, adding the designer “expected a sex act before he was willing to consider releasing any person” from his estate.
A spokesman for Nygard stated earlier this year he was stepping down as chairman of Nygard firms and will divest his ownership interest.