Topline
Former Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard was found guilty of sexual assault by a Toronto jury Sunday, according to multiple reports—marking his first conviction after decades of accusations and multiple ongoing cases accusing him of using his power and influence to sexually abuse young women and teenage girls.
Seen through a police vehicle window, Canadian-Finnish fashion mogul Peter Nygard leaves a … [+]
Key Facts
A Toronto jury found Nygard guilty of four counts of sexual assault in the case accusing him of attacking five victims, aged 16 to 28, between the 1980s and 2005.
He was found not guilty of one count of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement after three days of deliberation in the six-week trial.
Nygard—the 82-year-old founder of the Canadian fashion company Nygard International that was once valued at $1 billion—faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each sexual assault conviction.
Nygard is expected to be sentenced in Toronto later this month.
Key Background
Canadian prosecutors accused Nygard of sexually assaulting the women by luring them, under the guise of job interviews or building tours, to his private office suite, allegedly equipped with a jacuzzi, bed, doors without handles and locks controlled by Nygard. He claimed short-term memory loss prevented him from remembering key details throughout the trial, insisting he did not recognize all but one of the victims, and claiming records that may have helped him recall the time periods in question were destroyed in a fire and a hacking incident. Nygard has faced sexual abuse allegations dating back to 1968, when a sex crime charge filed by Winnipeg police against him was dropped after the alleged victim refused to testify. Similarly, in 1980, he was charged with raping an 18-year-old who also declined to cooperate with law enforcement, so the the case was closed. The FBI has investigated him at least three times since 2015 over allegations he ran a sex trafficking ring. He stepped down from Nygard International in 2020 amid an FBI probe, and the company filed for bankruptcy a month later.
What To Watch For
Nygard also faces sex crimes charges in Montreal and Winnipeg. He’s set to be extradited to New York at the conclusion of his Canadian trials to face a nine-count federal indictment on sex trafficking, racketeering and conspiracy, among other charges.