Billionaire Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard has been arrested in Canada and charged in connection with an investigation into allegations he trafficked and sexually assaulted dozens of girls and women for years. The nine-count indictment out of the Southern District of New York also charges Nygard with racketeering and other crimes. Nygard was taken into custody in Winnipeg, Manitoba yesterday by Canadian police after the United States asked Canada to issue a warrant under the two countries' extradition treaty.
This comes after U.S. federal authorities raided Nygard’s Manhattan headquarters earlier this year amid claims that he trafficked and sexually assaulted dozens of teenage girls and women. In early 2020, 10 women filed a lawsuit alleging that Nygard lured young and impoverished women to his estate in the Bahamas with cash and promises of modeling opportunities. Several women in the lawsuit claim they were 14 or 15 years old when Nygard gave them alcohol or drugs and then raped them.
Since then, 57 women have joined the lawsuit, alleging Nygard used violence, intimidation, bribery, and company employees to lure victims and avoid accountability for decades. Nygard denies the allegations, claiming it's a conspiracy caused by a feud with his billionaire neighbor in the Bahamas.
Britain's Prince Andrew faces fresh scrutiny in light of Nygard's arrest, although there is no suggestion Andrew was involved in any of the allegations. Prince Andrew reportedly stayed with Nygard at his mansion in the Bahamas with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson in 2000. Nygard is also the second of the Duke’s former associates to be accused of sexual misconduct following his friendship with accused pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre claimed that she was trafficked to Prince Andrew by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. A photo of Prince Andrew and Virginia inside of Ghislaine Maxwell's apartment has been widely circulated online, but Andrew denied the allegations. In 2015, Buckingham Palace stated that "any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue."
More details to come.
Source: Euro Weekly News
