Designer Peter Nygard will be extradited to US over charges of sex trafficking and racketeering
Disgraced fashion designer Peter Nygard will be extradited to US over charges of sex trafficking and racketeering
Peter Nygard, 80, will be extradited to the US for nine charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, which he has denied He was denied bail on grounds that he might tamper with witnesses or accusers Nygard is said to have ‘used force, fraud, and coercion to cause women and minors to have sex’ with themToronto police have also announced an arrest warrant for six alleged sexual assaults involving forcible confinement between 1987 and 2006 His lawyer does not know if Nygard will face the Canadian or US charges first
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Peter Nygard, 80, appeared in a Canadian court via video link for his extradition hearing
Fashion executive Peter Nygard agreed in a Canadian court on Friday to be extradited to the United States where he faces nine charges of raping dozens of women and girls, racketeering and sex trafficking.
He has been in prison since his arrest in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, last December. The 80-year-old Finnish-Canadian millionaire made a brief court appearance via video link.
Scott Farlinger, a lawyer representing the Canadian government in the case, explained that Nygard, who’d been denied bail on the grounds he might tamper with witnesses or his accusers, had opted not to fight the extradition.
Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal said Nygard can’t be extradited for at least 30 days. However, the disgraced fashion designer can apply for judicial interim release, also known as bail, while the new justice minister confirms or denies his extradition.
Nygard’s lawyer Brian Greenspan confirmed to the court that the designer consented to the extradition application and understood the significance.
‘He wants to face these charges,’ Greenspan told reporters afterward.
Nygard faces nine charges in the United States involving dozens of victims.
Known for his flamboyant style and floppy, gray hair, he will go to the US to face nine sex trafficking and racketeering charges
If confirmed, his extradition will allow him to answer to the US charges and raise a defense.
Greenspan also told reporters outside the court room that the U.S. can only bring one charge against him, but could bring multiple counts, due to the Law of Specialty that defends international law.
The Law of Specialty prohibits the U.S. from adding charges. He can only be charged for offenses pre-extradition.
‘This process can now move forward in order for him to face trial in the United States,’ defense lawyer Brian Greenspan confirmed.
That, he said will provide Nygard ‘the opportunity to raise his defense and to challenge the truthfulness of the evidence which has been brought against him.’
Canada’s attorney general must still approve the extradition.
Appearing via video link (right), Nygard faces charges from dozens of victims. He was denied bail on grounds he might tamper with witnesses or accusers
Nygard’s lawyer Brian Greenspan (pictured) spoke at the hearing
Crown prosecutor Scott Farlinger oversaw the hearing where Nygard agreed to be extradited. The Toronto police also announced an arrest warrant has been issued for the fashion designer involving an alleged six sexual assaults
His alleged crimes, according to the US indictment, took place between 1990 and 2020. Nygard and his alleged accomplices, including employees of his group, ‘used force, fraud, and coercion to cause women and minors to have sex’ with them, it said.
The perma-tanned Nygard, known for his long, flowing gray hair and flamboyant clothes, has denied the allegations.
Also on Friday, Toronto police announced that an arrest warrant had been issued for Nygard for six alleged sexual assaults and three charges of forcible confinement, between 1987 and 2006. Although there are claims that complaints against Nygard in Canada go back to the 70s.
Greenspan told reporters that he is not sure if his client will face the Canadian charges before the US ones and that it will be up to the newly appointed federal justice minister to decide.
He also made it clear they will ensure Nygard does not end up in a prison with ‘sewage in the cells,’ like New York City’s Rikers Island jail – which will be closing by 2026 – or the jail in Brooklyn.
Nygard has been charged with sex trafficking and racketeering after women came forward accusing him of using his business to lure them in from the United States and the Bahamas for his own sexual gratification.
He was arrested by Canadian authorities on December 14 – on an extradition warrant at the US government’s request from the FBI and New York City police – on charges of assaulting dozens of women in a decades-long sex trafficking scheme.
He is accused of using his prominence in the fashion industry to lure women and girls in with the promise of modeling or other job opportunities before he and his associates sexually assaulted them.
The allegations span a 25-year period and involve more than 80 women in the US, the Bahamas and Canada, among other locations.
His lawyer denies the number of women, saying on seven woman in the US and six in Toronto have been chronicled, he told reporters today.
Former videographer Stephen Feralio released video of Nygard watching a 17-year-old girl dance on a stripper pole on his private jet.
Feralio accompanied Nygard on his private Boeing 727, including a trip in 2012 that included one of the Canadian’s 17-year-old ‘girlfriends.’
‘[They are] all dancing on the stripper pole on the plane,’ Feralio said to CBC of the video of the teen at the party.
‘So, life on the plane, there’s food and then there’s poker and then there is karaoke and then there is maybe a movie. And then there’s drinking and dancing.
‘And, you know, Nygard had a bed on the plane, and so he would have sex with the girls up in the front of the plane.’
