Ten women filed a civil class-action lawsuit on Thursday accusing one of Canada’s wealthiest businessmen and clothing manufacturers, Peter Nygard, of raping them at his seaside mansion in the Bahamas, and operating what they refer to as a “sex trafficking ring.”
The women are seeking damages for the alleged rapes.
Three of the women were 14 years old at the time of the alleged rapes. Three others were 15 years old.
The alleged rapes took place between 2008 and 2015.
The women are not named in the lawsuit “to protect their identities because of the sensitive and highly personal nature of this matter.”
According to the lawsuit, filed in New York, Nygard “recruited, lured, and enticed young, impressionable, and often impoverished children and women, with cash payments and false promises of lucrative modeling opportunities to assault, rape, and sodomize them.”
There are no criminal charges associated with any of the allegations.
Nygard’s lawyer “vigorously” denied the accusations as “completely false [and] without foundation” in a statement Thursday.
“Peter Nygard looks forward to fully exposing this scam, and once and for all clearing his name,” said Jay Prober.
Nygard operates a multi-million dollar clothing empire, based in Winnipeg. According to its website, the privately owned company operates more than 170 stores across North America.
Lawsuit alleges bribery
The lawsuit goes on to accuse Nygard of drugging women by putting “Rohypnol and/or other mind-altering drugs in their drinks.”
It also alleges he “initiated 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.”
It further claims “Nygard also paid people, using Nygard Company money, to intimidate his former ‘girlfriends’ by slashing their tires, committing arson, paying police to threaten to arrest them, and by having them followed.”
Decade-long dispute
“This lawsuit was expected,” said Prober, his lawyer.
Prober says the lawsuit is the latest in a decade-long attempt to destroy his reputation by his former neighbour in the Bahamas, U.S. billionaire and former hedge fund owner Louis Bacon.
Their dispute began as a noise complaint, and has evolved into multiple lawsuits in multiple countries spanning more than 10 years.
Nygard’s most recent legal assault against Bacon was launched in New York in November 2019
It alleges Bacon has hired a team of lawyers and private investigators who are “engaging in a pattern of illicit and illegal conduct designed to improperly influence witnesses to make false statements, file false reports, abuse process, tortiously interfere with business relations and aid and abet the dissemination of false statements … all for the intentional purpose of damaging [Nygard].”
Nygard says allegations in the lawsuit filed Thursday are a response to his November lawsuit against Bacon, saying the complainants were “bought off to make such false claims.”
‘Pamper parties’
According to Thursday’s lawsuit the alleged rapes took place after or during what Nygard has referred to as “pamper parties” at his home in the Bahamas.
His staff were instructed to recruit young women for the weekly parties, the lawsuit claims. When guests checked in, their details would be entered in a database and photos sent to Nygard for review.
“Nygard would then use this information to select his potential victims for the night,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit claims Nygard has a database of more than 7,500 underage girls and women.
The lawsuit accuses Nygard of drugging women by putting “Rohypnol and/or other mind-altering drugs in their drinks.” There are no criminal charges associated with any of the allegations. Nygard’s lawyer has denied the accusations. (YouTube)
The lawsuit also includes details of the alleged assaults against the 10 women who made the allegations.
The allegations include vaginal rape, anal rape, oral sex and requests to urinate or defacate in Nygard’s mouth.
According to the lawsuit, one of the complainants, who was 14 at the time, says the encounter began with Nygard showing her pornography, then Nygard asked her to use a sex toy on him and it ended when he raped her “causing her extrordinary trauma and pain.”
The lawsuit says he paid the complainants thousands of dollars after each of the rapes.
He resorted to tactics of violence, intimidation, bribery, and payoff to attempt to silence the victims and to continue his scheme.-civil class-action lawsuit
“The Nygard Companies fund all of Nygard’s ‘pamper parties’ by transferring cash from the company’s bank account in Canada and routing it through New York,” the lawsuit says.
“[Nygard’s] destruction of innocent lives is immeasurable,” it says.
“When Nygard became aware of the investigation into his sex trafficking ring, he resorted to tactics of violence, intimidation, bribery, and payoffs to attempt to silence the victims and to continue his scheme”
There is a 10-year statute of limitations for cases like this under New York law.
The lawsuit requests it be extended because the complainants “were impeded because of a combination of force, threats of force, shame, embarrassment, fear, political and law enforcement corruption, weak laws that are rarely enforced to protect the victim, and bribery.”
If not some accusers may be barred from the suit. The class-action lawsuit must also be certified by a judge before it can proceed.
Additional lawsuits
Thursday’s allegations follow two additional lawsuits accusing Nygard of sexual assault, filed in Los Angeles in January, that came to light recently
Nygard denies those allegations as well.
One lawsuit is from an unnamed woman who claims Nygard sexually assaulted and falsely imprisoned her while she was a minor. The age of consent in California is 18.
The incidents began, the lawsuit alleges, at Nygard’s home in California in 2012 and continued during a trip to China on his private plane, in a club in New York and and while visiting Florida.
“Nygard committed sexual battery upon the plaintiff by acting with the intent to cause a harmful or offensive contact with intimate parts of the plaintiff’s body,” the lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiff objected to being forced to be involved in procuring women for Defendant Nygard. She told him that she was not a madam and that she did not want to be involved in these activities.– civil class-action lawsuit
“Defendant Nygard intentionally deprived Plaintiff of her freedom of movement by the use of menace, fraud, deceit and/or unreasonable durres, for an appreciable period of time.”
The second lawsuit was filed by a former employee of Nygard, who says she managed a medical cannabis facility for him in Los Angeles.
The woman is named in the lawsuit, but CBC News has decided to withhold her identity because of the nature of the allegations.
She claims in her lawsuit that Nygard touched her sexually without consent on several occasions between 2016 and 2018.
Nygard “caused a harmful or offensive contact with [the woman’s] breasts and/or buttocks and/or groin,” the lawsuit alleges.
On one occasion, the lawsuit says Nygard said, “that her ‘ass’ looked amazing. He said, ‘you know what they say about pregnant women.’ He said ‘they want it more’ while making forward motion with his hips.”
The lawsuit alleges the woman was ordered to invite women to attend parties at Nygard’s home in California, and that he would then choose a few of them to “to stay the night with him.”
“Defendant Nygard paid these women for their ‘services,'” the lawsuit claims.
“Plaintiff objected to being forced to be involved in procuring women for Defendant Nygard. She told him that she was not a madam and that she did not want to be involved in these activities.”
According to the lawsuit, the woman quit in 2018, following the alleged assaults and claims Nygard failed to pay her the salary and benefits he promised. Nygard says lawsuits filed in Los Angeles are also part of Bacon’s campaign to destroy his reputation.
None of the allegations in the lawsuits have been proven in court.
BATHURST, N.B. – RCMP in New Brunswick say a weekend ground search for evidence related to the disappearance of a teenage girl in 2021 didn’t reveal any new information.
In an emailed statement, the RCMP said 20 people participated in the search for evidence in the case of Madison Roy-Boudreau of Bathurst.
The release said the search occurred in the Middle River area, just south of the girl’s hometown.
Police have said the 14-year-old’s disappearance is being treated as a homicide investigation.
The RCMP said the search “did not reveal any new information regarding the circumstances of her disappearance.”
There are no plans for another search until police receive a tip or a lead pointing to a new search area.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
VICTORIA – A middle school in Victoria was forced into a lockdown after a man entered the building without permission, and police say they had to use a stun gun to make an arrest.
Victoria police say officers received multiple calls around noon on Monday of an unknown male entering Central Middle School, leading staff to set off emergency procedures that put the building under lockdown.
Police say its emergency response team arrived within minutes and found the suspect, who “appeared to be in a drug-induced state,” in the school’s library.
A statement from police says the suspect resisted arrest, and officers had to use a Taser to subdue the man.
He’s being held by police and has been assessed by emergency medical staff.
Police say the man was not armed and there were no continuing safety concerns for students and staff following the arrest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Former B.C. Green leader Andrew Weaver knows what it’s like to form a minority government with the NDP, but says such a deal to create the province’s next administration is less likely this time than seven years ago.
Weaver struck a power-sharing agreement that resulted in John Horgan’s NDP minority government in 2017, but said in an interview Monday there is now more animosity between the two parties.
Neither the NDP nor the B.C. Conservatives secured a majority in Saturday’s election, raising the prospect of a minority NDP government if Leader David Eby can get the support of two Green legislators.
Manual recounts in two ridings could also play an important role in the outcome, which will not be known for about a week.
Weaver, who is no longer a member of the Greens, endorsed a Conservative candidate in his home riding.
He said Eby would be in a better position to negotiate if Furstenau, who lost her seat, stepped aside as party leader.
“I think Mr. Eby would be able to have fresh discussions with fresh new faces around the table, (after) four years of political sniping … between Sonia and the NDP in the B.C. legislature,” he said.
He said Furstenau’s loss put the two elected Greens in an awkward position because parties “need the leader in the legislature.”
Furstenau could resign as leader or one of the elected Greens could step down and let her run in a byelection in their riding, he said.
“They need to resolve that issue sooner rather than later,” he said.
The Green victories went to Rob Botterell in Saanich North and the Islands and Jeremy Valeriote in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.
Neither Botterell nor Valeriote have held seats in the legislature before, Weaver noted.
“It’s not like in 2017 when, you know, I had been in the (legislature) for four years already,” Weaver said, adding that “the learning curve is steep.”
Sanjay Jeram, chair of undergraduate studies in political science at Simon Fraser University, said he doesn’t think it’ll be an “easygoing relationship between (the NDP and Greens) this time around.”
“I don’t know if Eby and Furstenau have the same relationship — or the potential to have the same relationship — as Horgan and Weaver did,” he said. “I think their demands will be a little more strict and it’ll be a little more of a cold alliance than it was in 2017 if they do form an alliance.”
Horgan and Weaver shook hands on a confidence-and-supply agreement before attending a rugby match, where they were spotted sitting together before the deal became public knowledge.
Eby said in his election-night speech that he had already reached out to Furstenau and suggested common “progressive values” between their parties.
Furstenau said in her concession speech that her party was poised to play a “pivotal role” in the legislature.
Botterell said in an election-night interview that he was “totally supportive of Sonia” and he would “do everything I can to support her and the path forward that she chooses to take because that’s her decision.”
The Green Party of Canada issued a news release Monday, congratulating the candidates on their victories, noting Valeriote’s win is the first time that a Green MLA has been elected outside of Vancouver Island.
“Now, like all British Columbians we await the final seat count to know which party will have the best chance to form government. Let’s hope that the Green caucus has a pivotal role,” the release said, echoing Furstenau’s turn of phrase.
The final results of the election won’t be known until at least next week.
Elections BC says manual recounts will be held on Oct. 26 to 28 in two ridings where NDP candidates led B.C. Conservatives by fewer than 100 votes after the initial count ended on Sunday.
The outcomes in Surrey City Centre and Juan de Fuca-Malahat could determine who forms government.
The election’s initial results have the NDP elected or leading in 46 ridings, and the B.C. Conservatives in 45, both short of the 47 majority mark in B.C.’s 93-seat legislature.
If the Conservatives win both of the recount ridings and win all other ridings where they lead, Rustad will win with a one-seat majority.
If the NDP holds onto at least one of the ridings where there are recounts, wins the other races it leads, and strikes a deal with the Greens, they would have enough numbers to form a minority government.
But another election could also be on the cards, since the winner will have to nominate a Speaker, reducing the government’s numbers in the legislature by one vote.
Elections BC says it will also be counting about 49,000 absentee and mail-in ballots from Oct. 26 to 28.
The NDP went into the election with 55 ridings, representing a comfortable majority in what was then an 87-seat legislature.
Jeram, with Simon Fraser University, said though the counts aren’t finalized, the Conservatives were the big winners in the election.
“They weren’t really a not much of a formal party until not that long ago, and to go from two per cent of the vote to winning 45 or more seats in the B.C. provincial election is just incredible,” he said in an interview Monday.
Jeram said people had expected Eby to call an election after he took over from John Horgan in 2022, and if he had, he doesn’t think there would have been the same result.
He said the B.C. Conservative’s popularity grew as a result of the decision of the BC Liberals to rebrand as BC United and later drop out.
“Had Eby called an election before that really shook out, and maybe especially before (Pierre) Poilievre, kind of really had the wind in his sails and started to grow, I think he could have won the majority for sure.”
He said he wasn’t surprised by the results of the election, saying polls were fairly accurate.
“Ultimately, it really was a result that we saw coming for a while, since the moment that BC United withdrew and put their support behind the conservatives, I think this was the outcome that was expected.”
— With files from Darryl Greer
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
