Peter Nygård

Canadian Finnish fashion executive

Peter J. Nygård (born Pekka Juhani Nygård; born 24 July 1941) is a Finnish Canadian businessman and former fashion executive. In 1967 he founded Nygård International, a Winnipeg based company that initially was a sportswear manufacturer before producing women's apparel. He was rated the 70th richest Canadian by Canadian Business Magazine in 2009, with a net worth of C$817 million, while in 2017 his net worth was estimated to be C$900 million. In 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) carried out a search warrant of Nygård's offices in New York City after he was accused of sex trafficking, sexual assault and racketeering. The company then filed for bankruptcy later that year. In October 2021 he was again charged in Canada with multiple counts of sexual assault and forcible confinement in incidents that occurred between the mid 1980s and mid 2000s; accusations of sexual misconduct by Nygård date as far back as 1968. In November 2023, a Canadian court convicted Nygård of four counts of sexual assault.

Peter Nygård was born Pekka Juhani Nygård in Helsinki, Finland, on 24 July 1941. His parents immigrated to Deloraine, Manitoba, Canada, in 1952, when Nygård was around eleven years old. In 1964 Nygård graduated from the University of North Dakota with a business degree.

Nygård established Nygård Apparel Manufacturing Company, later rebranded Nygård International, in Winnipeg in 1967. In 1978, Nygård's takeover of a sportswear designer's business in New York City led to a 12 year legal battle in New York federal court. Times Square was also the location of Nygård's fashion concept retail store, which opened on Friday, 6 November 2009. Nygård's personal net worth was estimated at $900 million in 2020. After these, Nygård announced that he would step down from the company and divest his ownership interest. In March 2020, a judge said that there was no evidence Nygård had actually resigned, and that he still owned 100% of the shares of the Nygård group of companies. The company filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in New York on 18 March 2020, and a Manitoba judge ordered a group of Nygård companies into receivership the following day. On 30 April, a Canadian judge authorized an accounting firm to sell off part of the business. In 1980, the Free Press wrote that Winnipeg police charged Nygård with the sexual assault of an 18 year old woman. Later those charges were stayed because she declined to testify. In the 1990s Nygård settled sexual harassment complaints by three former employees in Manitoba. On 24 November 2019, Bahamian police began investigating six allegations of sexual assault made against Nygård. All the alleged victims were under 16 at the time of the alleged assaults. Additionally, on 27 January 2020, Nygård faced two separate lawsuits after being accused of sexual assault. On 13 February 2020, 10 women filed a class action lawsuit against Nygård in New York, alleging that he had sexually assaulted them at his Bahamas residence. The alleged attacks took place between 2008 and 2015. The women also alleged that he maintained a sex trafficking network, and that seven of the women were under 18 when the attacks took place. On 25 February 2020, the New York headquarters of Nygård International were raided by the FBI and the New York City Police Department in connection with sex trafficking claims. On 20 April 2020, 36 new women joined the class action suit, bringing the total number of plaintiffs in the sexual assault case to 46. On 17 June 2020, it was reported that 11 more women had joined the class action lawsuit, bringing the total number of plaintiffs to 57. On 9 July 2020, Nygård filed a motion to dismiss the claims of 52 of the plaintiffs, stating that "numerous deficiencies" barred their claims, and in particular that the claims of 50 of the plaintiffs lacked any connection to New York. On 17 August 2020, Nygård was sued by two of his sons on accusations that Nygård directed a known sex worker, said to be "his girlfriend," to sexually assault them. On 22 August 2020, it was reported that the class action suit had been placed on hold due to the US government having requested a stay of proceedings while the criminal investigation was ongoing.

On 15 December 2020, Nygård was arrested in Winnipeg for extradition to the US to face charges of sex trafficking by the US attorney's office in Manhattan. On 5 February 2021, Nygård was denied bail and faced extradition to the US. On 18 February 2021, it was reported that a new lawsuit had been filed by one of the class action plaintiffs, which named Peter Nygård's niece, Angela Dyborn, as an alleged co conspirator in the alleged sex trafficking scheme. On 26 March 2021, Nygård was denied bail for a second time. In April 2021 it was reported that Nygård would face an extradition hearing in November 2021. On 1 October 2021, Nygård agreed to be extradited to the US, to face the charges against him that were filed there. The same day Nygård was charged by Toronto police with six counts of sexual assault and three counts of forcible confinement. On 2 December 2021, it was reported that Nygård would face charges by Winnipeg police following a ten month investigation into allegations of sexual assault from eight women against him. The preliminary inquiry for the charges against Nygård in Montreal is scheduled for 28 January 2025. Nygård's son Kai Zen Bickle praised the conviction saying that his father "used his business talents for evil, to prey on others," adding "And it's a very good thing that justice was served here."

Nygård has been involved in numerous lawsuits before his arrest in 2020, including suits involving alleged abusive labour practices, tax evasion. In the 1990s, Nygård settled sexual harassment complaints by three former employees in Manitoba. In 2005, after Finnish newspaper Iltalehti published an article about sex parties at Nygård's mansion, even featuring a short interview with Jessica Alba where she felt she had to leave a party at the Nygård Cay mansion (she was there filming Into the Blue) after witnessing events at the party. Nygård sued the parent company of the paper Alma Media for slander in Los Angeles. Nygård lost the case. In 2006, Canadian tax authorities claimed Nygård underreported $15 million in taxes. Nygård argued that he severed residential ties with Canada in 1975; he was ultimately subject to taxes on an unreported $2 million. He had also launched a copyright complaint with the US District Court in New York and a lawsuit in Manitoba to prevent the piece from airing. He had previously sued two former employees for releasing confidential information and his lawyer claimed the CBC harassed many of the employees. On 15 November 2019, a judge in the Bahamas sentenced Nygård to 90 days in prison and fined him $150,000 after finding he breached a court order prohibiting the disclosure of emails that were stolen from a non profit group. Nygård subsequently paid the fine, but appealed against the contempt order, and obtained a stay of execution of the prison sentence until his appeal was heard. On 1 February 2021, Nygård's appeal against the contempt order was dismissed by the Court of Appeal of the Bahamas. On 4 February 2021, Nygård filed a motion requesting leave to appeal to the Privy Council, but the Court of Appeal of the Bahamas refused to grant this. The judge who delivered the refusal stated that Nygård could still apply directly to the Privy Council for leave to appeal.

In 2005, Nygård attempted to solve a parking overflow problem at Nygård Cay by installing a large concrete slab on Louis Bacon's property. Bacon sought and obtained a court injunction to remove it. In 2007, Bacon, annoyed by noise at Nygård's house, installed industrial grade speakers at the edge of his property and pointed them at Nygård's house. In the summer of 2010, Bacon's house was raided by Bahamian police, leading to the confiscation of the speakers. Bacon claimed it was the work of Nygård, a claim he denied. Vanity Fair reported that Nygård also used fake news sites to smear Bacon. In January 2015, Bacon filed a defamation lawsuit against Nygård over these claims. Additionally, in September 2019, Nygard launched a suit against two reporters from the New York Times for their reporting on the dispute between Nygard and Bacon. The suit claims that the reporters for the paper "tried to steer the individuals to provide information to fit a story" and that reporters wanted to "bring down" Nygård. Finally, a New York judge awarded Louis Bacon more than $203 million on 5 May 2023, in damages. The court order said that Nygård had conducted a global smear campaign over almost a decade, saying that it was “a deliberate plan by Nygård to personally and professionally destroy Bacon”.

In 1984, he purchased a beach bungalow for $1.76 million. A letter from the Bahamian prime minister's office rejected Nygård construction application, citing the improper expansion of his property through intentional accretion of land over the seabed. On 28 September 2018, Nygård Cay was seized by the Supreme Court of the Bahamas as part of a legal battle surrounding Nygård's efforts to dredge the sea floor around the estate. In 2019, a warrant was issued after Nygård failed to appear in court multiple times for a sentencing hearing related to two contempt of court convictions in the Bahamas. In 2021 the property is in a general state of disrepair. In 2003, Nygård was sued in Florida by an American couple who claimed he deceived them into accepting jobs as managers of his Bahamas estate. The case was settled in 2007.

Nygård previously used a Boeing 727 100 as his private jet, painted silver and blue and named N Force. The interior contained a karaoke machine, fluorescent purple disco lighting and a stripper's pole, with nightclub style chrome paneling, mirrored ceilings, white leather seats and a plush day bed. Nygård stopped using his 727 in 2017 due to maintenance costs and it was scrapped in Brunswick, Georgia. Nygård had purchased a new plane as a replacement but never finished renovating it due to mounting legal and financial troubles.

On 17 December 2020, two days after Nygård's arrest, it was reported that Discovery+ was releasing a series about Peter Nygård's life entitled Unseamly: The Investigation of Peter Nygård. The documentary aired in February 2021, and included interviews with family members and former Nygård employees. On 25 January 2021, CBC Podcasts released the first episode of their podcast, Evil by Design, about the allegations against Nygård. An episode of Dateline about the Nygård case also aired in December 2021.

Nygård has ten children with eight women. Nygård has been a longtime sponsor of amateur sports in the Bahamas. In June 2010, he was the main sponsor of the Amateur Boxing Federation of the Bahamas team for Continental Elite Boxing Championships, an invitation only event in Quito, Ecuador.

In 2012, Nygård was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2002, Deloraine, Manitoba, where Nygård grew up, unveiled a commemorative plaque and named a park in his honour. In May 2020, the park's name was changed to Prairie Sentinels Park, after Nygård was arrested and charged with sexual assault and sex trafficking.