“He used his power and status to attack young women”: These were the words of the prosecutor as the trial of former fashion mogul Peter Nygard opened in Toronto on Tuesday, two years after he was first charged with sex crimes.
• Also read: Former fashion mogul Peter Nygard pleads not guilty to sexual assault
• Also read: Former fashion mogul Peter Nygard is on trial for sex crimes
It is the first of several trials against the 82-year-old in Canada and the United States, where he is accused of dozens of sex crimes that he committed over several decades.
When Peter Nygard entered the courtroom in a wheelchair, he wore gray hair tied in a bun, a dark suit and a white shirt. He looked weak and very pale, unlike the many photos of him that show him with blonde hair and a tanned complexion.
“In Nygard’s offices in Toronto, behind the walls and the appearance of success and power, there is a suite with a huge bedroom, a bar and doors, doors without handles and automatic locks, controlled by Peter Nygard,” emphasized prosecutor Ana Serban.
She described “traumatized” victims who were “at risk of having their careers destroyed if they did not submit.” Some took more than five years to be able to speak, she said.
The octogenarian, founder of one of Canada’s largest clothing brands, Nygard International, pleaded not guilty last week to charges of sexual assault and forcible confinement.
The American justice system also wants to bring him to justice on allegations of rape of dozens of women and young girls, extortion and human trafficking between 1990 and 2020.
If Peter Nygard accepts extradition to the United States, he will first face trial in three Canadian provinces – Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba.
Sexual demands
The octogenarian is an imposing fashion figure who once dined with Queen Elizabeth II, mingled with lawmakers and Hollywood stars and often bragged about his journey as a young immigrant who managed to rise to the top of a fashion empire. Fashion.
Canadian Business magazine has previously estimated Peter Nygard’s net worth at $850 million (€595 million).
However, his company filed for bankruptcy protection shortly after the FBI and police raided its Manhattan headquarters in 2020.
In the United States, dozens of women accuse him of manipulating them and luring them to his luxurious properties, especially in the Bahamas, under the pretext of lucrative modeling opportunities.
Several, who came from poor economic backgrounds and were victims of abuse, said he used his company money to pay for plastic surgeries, abortions and child support.
U.S. prosecutors say company funds were also used to organize dinners, poker games and parties at which minors were drugged and women were assaulted if they did not comply with his sexual demands.
A video secretly recorded by a whistleblower who spent three years documenting the designer’s life showed him flirting with a 16-year-old girl during the 2012 London Olympics. It also shows a 17-year-old girl pole dancing aboard his private Boeing.
“Peter Nygard came in and just picked a girl, mostly drunk,” Stephen Feralio, Peter Nygard’s personal videographer, told Canadian Public Television in 2021.
His trial in Toronto is expected to last at least six weeks. Quebec’s is not planned until spring 2024.