After Ontario and American justice, Canadian fashion magnate Peter Nygard must now face Quebec justice. The 80-year-old man, denounced by dozens of women in North America, is accused of having sexually assaulted and kidnapped a victim in Montreal in the 1990s.
Posted yesterday at 3:43 p.m.
According to the arrest warrant, the octogenarian faces two counts of sexual assault and forcible confinement of an adult victim between 1er November 1997 and November 15, 1998 in Montreal. A Quebec Superior Court judge authorized the filing of charges on March 15. However, the court document was made public without warning Monday at the Montreal courthouse.
Until recently, the fallen billionaire was one of the biggest fashion moguls in the world, having built in Winnipeg, then in Toronto, a veritable empire of women’s fashion. But the owner of Nygard International has been targeted for several years by numerous denunciations of alleged victims.
Peter Nygard is already detained in Toronto awaiting trial for six counts of sexual assault and three counts of forcible confinement. When he is done with Canadian justice, he will then be extradited to the United States, federal Justice Minister David Lametti announced last week.
American Justice
In New York State, Peter Nygard is to be tried on nine counts of human trafficking and sex crimes against at least a dozen victims in the United States, the Bahamas and Canada. In the theory of their case, the American authorities describe Peter Nygard as a sexual predator ready to strike his girlfriends who refused to comply with his sexual demands.
“Over a period of 25 years, Peter Nygard used the influence of the Nygard Group to recruit and retain women and teenage girls for his own sexual gratification and that of his friends and associates. […] Peter Nygard frequently targeted women and teenage girls from disadvantaged economic backgrounds or with a history of abuse.
Thus, Peter Nygard controlled his victims through threats, false promises, and coercive means, including surveillance and confinement, according to the American prosecution theory. He is also accused of sexually assaulting several victims.
Peter Nygard is scheduled to appear at the Montreal courthouse on Tuesday.