Peter Nygard

Introduction

Peter J. Nygard is a Finnish-Canadian former fashion executive. He was rated the 70th richest Canadian by Canadian Business Magazine in 2009 with a net worth of $817 million and in 2020 his net worth is estimated at around $900 million. Nygard was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1943. His parents were Eeli and Hilkka Nygard were bakers who immigrated to Canada in 1952, settling at first in Deloraine, Manitoba (where Nygard Park would later be named in Peter Nygard’s honour in 2002). [1] Peter Nygard’s mother Hilkka wanted to stay involved in business and remained an active director of many of her son's companies and was highly involved in the financial day-to-day control of the Bahamas operations. [2]

Nygard attended the University of North Dakota where he graduated in 1964 with a business degree. In interviews given by Nygard, he praises professor Tom Clifford as his mentor, “You are always looking for mentors everywhere,” ... “He became one of my mentors and I highly respected him.” Clifford was then the dean of the College of Business and would later become a longtime president of the University. When Peter Nygard graduated, he made sure his sister Pirjo-Liisa “Liisa” Nygard Johnson was able to pursue a degree from UND as well. Liisa, who started her own fashion business Pirjo-Liisa Fashions with her then-husband Russell Nichol in 1975. [3]

One of Peter Nygard’s first jobs out of college was as a sales manager for a new line of women's denim for a company called Jacobs Fashions.In 1967 Peter used his life savings, roughly $8,000, and a loan to purchase a 20% stake in the company from its founder Nathan Jacob. Within a few years, Peter bought Nathan out entirely and renamed the business, Tan Jay. [4] He founded Nygard International in 1967 and expanded into the United States in 1978, the company is worth more than $1 billion and "the largest producer of women’s apparel" in Canada. [5] While the company was active it produced clothing under brand names such as Peter Nygard, Nygard Slims, Bianca Nygard, ADX, TanJay, Alia, and Allison Daley. In 1978 the company expanded into the United States and in 1987. The company’s corporate facilities are in New York City, US (World Headquarters, Research, and Design); Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (IT/Retail/Services/Design & Merchandising, Production & Distribution); Toronto, Ontario, Canada (International Sales & Marketing Team). Nygard also has manufacturing facilities in Shanghai, Tianjin, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Mexico. [6]

Peter Nygard resigned as chairman in February 2020 after the FBI raided company headquarters in its investigation of rape trafficking accusations against him by more than 57 women. The company filed for Chapter 15 Bankruptcy in New York on March 18, 2020, and a Manitoba judge has ordered a group of Nygard companies into receivership on March 19, 2020. On April 30, 2020, a Canadian judge gave the green light to an accounting firm to sell and liquidate part of it. Nygard was arrested on rape trafficking and racketeering charges in December 2020. [7]

Peter Nygard, Nygard International, Nygard Cay

In 1987, Peter Nygard built a luxury resort named Nygard Cay in Lyford Cay in the Bahamas on the island of Nassau, New Providencia. In 2009 it was partly destroyed by a fire. Peter Nygard accused his neighbor, hedge fund billionaire Louis Bacon, of setting the fire. On April 14, 2010, Nygard announced he was planning a $50 million renovation of Nygard Cay, which would take two years to complete and repair the damage and employ 200 construction workers.The Bahamanian Prime Minister's Office rejected the plans. In 2018, Nygård Cay was seized by the Supreme Court of the Bahamas as part of a legal battle surrounding Nygård's efforts to dredge the sea floor around the estate. [9]

Peter Nygard vs Louis Bacon

The fire and stunted renovation plans have been the source of a feud between Louis Bacon and Peter Nygard for over a decade. Louis Bacon and Peter Nygard have spent tens of millions of dollars fighting each other with more than 25 lawsuits in multiple international jurisdictions. Both sides are claiming damages in the tens of millions of dollars and launching allegations of activities that include vandalism, bribery, insider trading, arson, murder, destruction of the fragile seabed, and having a close association with the Ku Klux Klan. Louis Bacon hasn’t set foot in the Bahamas in more than a year fearing for his personal safety. According to court documents Nygard met covertly Livingston Bullard and Wisler Davilma, two convicted criminals, to discuss the assassination of perceived opponents and adversaries of Peter Nygard, including Frederick Smith and Louis Bacon. allegedly Peter Nygard promised to pay substantial sums for the killings. assignations. [10]

In January 2015, he leveled a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Peter Nygard in New York. The suit alleges Nygard is behind a smear campaign that involved TV and radio ads purchased, Websites created, videos doctored, T-shirts printed, and even “hate rallies” staged with parades through Nassau aiming to label Louis Bacon a racist, a thief, and a “terrorist.” Louis Bacon alleges that Nygard planted stories accusing him of arson and murder, citing a 2014 Daily Mail article that said Bacon told his groundskeeper, Dan Tuckfield, now dead, to “find a way to burn Mr. Nygard’s f- -king house down.” according to Peter Nygard “The burn was complete and instantaneous and of suspicious origin,". Nygard also claims Bacon hired Dan Tuckfield to take Bacon’s cigarette boat and plant 7 kilos of cocaine worth $67,000 on Nygard’s beachfront — a plot allegedly foiled when the coke washed back up to Bacon’s residence. It is unknown what happened to the cocaine or if authorities followed up, Nygard promoted the story heavily. Nygard also claims Louis Bacon murder Dan Tuckfield, who was found dead in Louis Bacons pool, according to Nygard it was “suspicious given that he was an expert swimmer who had previously survived a plane crash in the ocean, miles offshore.” The local coroner claims the cause of death was it was a heart attack. [11]

In court documents, Louis Bacon cited a Canadian documentary that claimed Nygard turned his beachfront estate into a “mini-brothel” where he lures women and children to rape them. Allegations about his treatment of women and his business practices were also covered in that documentary and a devastating 2010 Forbes profile titled “Peter Nygard Answers to No One.” In it, Nygard is portrayed as a draconian boss who fined low-level house staff $25 for being late or leaving dirty glasses outside. A stewardess on his private plane claimed that Peter Nygard once threw a fit midair, his robe hanging open exposing himself. “You are nothing! … You are garbage! I am God! Do you not understand?”[12]

Peter Nygard partying with celebrities, politicians, and royals

Several celebrities, politicians, and royals have been reported to have visited and partied at Nygard Cay over the decades including Alan Thicke, Anna Nicole Smith, Beanie Man, Beverly Johnson, Beverly Peel, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, Jessica Alba, John Singleton, Lenny Kravitz, Lesie Vanderpo, Michael Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Prince Albert II of Monaco, Prince Andrew, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Princess Marie Chantal of Greece, Princess Michael of Kent, Robert DeNiro, Sean Connery, Zoe Zaldena, And former President George H.W. Bush. [13] Prince Andrew and his ex-wife the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson reportedly visited Nygard Cay in June 2000, with their two daughters, Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice. [14] In 2003 Queen Elizabeth II awarded her Golden Jubilee medal, to Peter Nygard as someone who, during her reign “helped create the Canada of today, and to recognize Mr. Nygard for outstanding and exemplary achievement to Canada as a whole”. In 2013, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Peter Nygard for a second time with her Diamond Jubilee Medal “in recognition for his philanthropic work raising money and awareness for cancer research and for his outstanding contributions to Canada and the Commonwealth.” [15] In 2004 while filming the movie "Into the Blue", Jessica Alba attended a party at Nygard Cay which she reportedly found "gross". On a subsequent press tour Alba, who was 23 years old at the time, recalled her time at Nygard's house: "These girls are like 14 years old in the Jacuzzi, taking off their clothes…" [16]

"We do a lot of entertaining, I have a lot of wonderful people here, wonderful women here, who make the place," "Then we have the rap guys come over here and the basketball players … We have a great church here, we have all the church leaders over here..." Peter Nygard said in a 2008 video interview with Bahamas Weekly. [17] According to a former Peter Nygard employee Victoria Sarne, originally from London, during her time working as his former PA in the 1990s she saw "countless" girls arriving at his offices in Toronto, LA and the Bahamas before they were take to his private quarters. “He’d attach his homes to his offices, often with a glass elevator. His private spaces were all fitted with mirrors. There were no door handles. They seemed ­impossible to get out of." “Peter monitored everything with close circuit TV. Everyone could be watched. It didn’t matter who you were... a Hollywood star, a sporting icon or from the Royal Family, Peter could see and record their every move." “He was sleazy. Like Epstein, he courted anyone in power or who had great fame. They may as well have been brothers.” [18] 

Peter Nygard rape network

In February 2020, 10 women filed a civil class-action lawsuit against Peter accusing him of rapes, assaults, and druggings that occurred at Nygard Cay. [19] At least 57 women and girls from five countries and three continents have come forward accusing Nygard of rape, assault, and druggings. [20] Peter Nygard hosted ‘pamper parties’ used to rape and abuse aspiring models and children from around the world, according to a Manhattan lawsuit. He travelled with an entourage of women and girls that described themselves as "paid girlfriends" but were in fact ‘sex workers’ or rape trafficking victims. a 2020 indictment revealed Nygard's “girlfriends” were also trafficked to “swingers” clubs in New York, Miami, Los Angeles and Winnipeg. “While at the clubs, Nygard directed and pressured ‘girlfriends’ through manipulation, intimidation, degradation, threats and on occasion, force, to engage in sex with other men in order to facilitate Nygard having sex with other women and for his own sexual gratification,” “At these clubs, Nygard frequently forced his victims to engage in group sex activiity to which they had not consented.” [21] It was revealed that Nygard international was funding all of Peter Nygard’s rape parties by transferring cash from the company's bank account in Canada and routing it through New York. The Nygard International IT department created and maintained a decades-old database on company servers of more than 7,500 women and children. The database dated back to 1987 and included women and children who could be invited and shipped to the ‘pamper parties’ at a moment's notice. When guests checked in, their information and photos would be entered into Nygard’s database and reviewed to select his potential victims for the night. [22]

Peter Nygard had a scheme to “purchase police protection and political cover in the Bahamas by making regular payments of tens of thousands of dollars to law enforcement, government officials, regulators and even to a former cabinet minister who became the prime minister of the Bahamas." Nygard also paid people, using Nygard company money, to intimidate his former 'girlfriends' and victims by slashing their tires, committing arson, paying police to threaten to arrest them and by having them followed." [23] Peter Nygard referred to women's bottoms as "toilets" and was once recorded saying "Do you see those toilets?" while gazing at a group of women and girls. [24] Prosecutors said Peter Nygard would often target victims who came. from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, luring his victims with drugs, money, and false promises of lucrative modeling deals. [25]

In August 2020, a lawsuit against Peter Nygard was launched by two of his sons identified as John Doe number one and number two in court documents accusing Nygard of arranging their rape. According to the lawsuit, “the Nygard Companies, in 2018, arranged and paid for John Doe No. 1 — Nygard’s biological son who was just 14 years old at the time —to be transported from California to Nygard’s residence, a property owned and/or paid for by the Nygard Companies, in Winnipeg, Canada where Nygardhad pre-planned and instructed that his long- time “girlfriend,” a known sex worker (“Jane Roe”) would rape Nygard’s 14 -year old son, John Doe No. 1”... “Nygard engineered the rape, instructing Jane Roe to “make a man” out of his 14 -year old son. After the rape, Jane Roe told Nygard that she had, indeed, followed his instructionsto rape John Doe No.”...”But this wasn’t the first time Nygard had orchestrated the rape of one of his sons. In 2004, Nygard choreographed a similar scenario — instructing the same Jane Roe to rape JohnDoe No. 2 , Nygard’s son who was then only fifteen years old.” [26]

The new complaint was also filed against three of Nygard ’s companies, alleging executives not only knew about Peter Nygard’s crimes, but enabled them. “The Nygard companies, through Nygard and a close ring of upper-level executives and employees, know that Nygard is a sexual predator and/or sex trafficker,” the complaint reads, also alleging the companies have acted as a front for Nygard ’s rape trafficking network. Several of the women who recently came forward told lawyers that they had been abused by other men and women at the direction of Nygard. Peter Nygard denied the accusations, claiming that they are the result of a smear campaign paid for and orchestrated by Louis Bacon. He resigned as chairman of Nygard international shortly after the U.S. Federal Beauru of Investigation (FBI) raided company’s New York offices in its investigation into rape trafficking accusations. [27]

Co-Conspirators

An October Lawsuit against Nygard also named talent agent Jonathan Baram & Instagram model Suelyn Medeiros as co-conspirators and claims they provided "a steady pool of victims" to Peter Nygard. The lawsuit claims Suelyn Medeiros was paid for her work as a 'recruiter' and she 'lived in Peter Nygard’s Marina Del Ray compound for at least five years, received significant cash, salary, jewelry, plastic surgery, cars, and stem cell injections in exchange for trafficking victims.' Medeiros lured women and girls to be raped. The first lawsuit was filed in Miami by a Florida woman on Oct. 22. She claims Nygard raped her in 2010 when she was 18, and that Instagram model Suelyn Medeiros was partially to blame for allegedly luring her to the Nygard Cay in the Bahamas.

Another woman filed a similar lawsuit in New York against talent agent Jonathan Baram and his agency Warren & Baram Management LLC. The lawsuit alleges in 2007, when she was 17, she was lured to New York from Canada under the guise she would become a model and actress. The lawsuit alleges Baram instructed the 17 year old to sending him nude photos that were sent to Nygard for approval "for an upcoming bikini photo shoot in the Bahamas." "Baram sent the nude photographs to Nygard and, once Nygard approved, told Jane Doe that she was 'in luck' because Nygard wanted to 'meet her,'" The teen was then taken to Nygard's penthouse in New York knowing she would be raped. The lawsuit claims Nygard employees gave the teen alcohol and drugged her and soon after she was raped by Peter Nygard, later that night Baram also sexually assaulted her in his apartment. Nygard's New York penthouse apartment was also named in the lawsuit as being above the Nygard company headquarters on the sixth floor. Nygard received a City of New York citation in 2013 for illegally converting that part of the building into a private residence with a jacuzzi and disco room, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also alleges a number of upper-level Nygard company executives, officers and directors enabled the sex assaults. [28]

Peter Nygard arrest

On December 14th, 2020, Peter Nygard was charged and arrested by the Candian Royal Mounted Police on behalf of the FBI and NYPD for a U.S. criminal investigation. He faces extraditction to the U.S. and was given a nine-count grand jury indictment that included 'charges of racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, trafficking of minors, forced sex trafficking and transportation of a minor for prostitution'. The crimes he is being charged with were committed between 1995 through 2020 according the US federal prosecutors in New York City. [29] Peter Nygard has applied for bail, two weeks after his arrest in Winnipeg under the Extradition Act. The bail application will be heard in the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench at 10 a.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. [30]

Nygard IT system hacked by an unknown group

According to a court document dated Dec. 30 the court-appointed receiver of Nygard's assets Richter Advisory Group Inc. confirmed that Nygard IT servers were a victim of a ransomware attack. Informanix — a third-party IT consultant hired to preserve digital records and the Nygard IT staff were working to recover records and computer servers impacted by a November 2020 power outage in northwestern Winnipeg when they came under ransomware attack by unknown hackers on Dec. 12, 2020 two days prior to his arrest.

The attack compromised "certain electronic records, programs and IT infrastructure of the Nygard organization, including the debtors," "by reason of the size and complexity of the IT System, and the caution needed in taking steps to assess the ransomware attack, the full scope and impact of the ransomware attack is not yet certain," the document says. A message from the unknown hackers reads, "Our encryption algorithms are very strong and your files are very well protected, the only way to get your files back is to cooperate with us and get the decrypter program," "Do not try to recover your files without a decrypter program, you may damage them and then they will be impossible to recover."

The ransomware used is Netwalker initially created by Circus Spider, a criminal group who started selling tools and ransomware over the dark web on March 2019, the court document says. The hackers initially demanded approximately 99 bitcoins, at the time worth $3.6 million. When Richter failed to respond to the initial demand, the ransom payment was doubled to 198 bitcoins, at the time worth $7.2 million the court document says. [31]