Fashion mogul Peter Nygard faces sentencing in Canadian court for multiple sexual assaults

This sentencing is just one part of the 83-year-old's ongoing legal battles. Nygard faces additional sexual assault and sex trafficking charges in Montreal, Winnipeg, and the United States, all of which he denies.

For decades, Nygard led Nygard International, an international clothing design, manufacturing, and supply business headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada, with offices in New York City and California. Prosecutors in his six-week trial in Toronto last autumn argued that Nygard, once estimated to be worth at least $700 million (£542 million), used his "status" to assault five women between the late 1980s and 2005.

Nygard's defence claimed that four of the five women, also part of a US class-action lawsuit filed by his alleged victims, were motivated by financial gain. Nygard testified that he did not recall four of the five women and insisted he would never have acted "in that kind of manner".

A jury found him guilty on four counts of sexual assault and not guilty on a fifth count of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement.

Nygard's sentencing, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, has been delayed multiple times, with two of his lawyers resigning over ethical concerns. His current lawyer, Gerri Wiebe, sought further delays to get up to speed on the case and to gather more expert testimony on Nygard’s medical condition.

Nygard had previously requested virtual hearings due to his declining health. However, during a remotely held hearing last Friday, Toronto Superior Court Justice Robert Goldstein stated he "simply will not entertain" any further delays unless Nygard "is in a coma".

Prosecutors in the Toronto case detailed how Nygard allegedly lured the victims, aged 16 to 28 at the time, to a private luxury bedroom in his firm's headquarters. One prosecutor described the room as having "a giant bed... and a bar and doors, doors with no handles and automatic locks controlled by Peter Nygard," where he allegedly trapped and assaulted the women.

Following the Toronto sentencing, Nygard faces another sexual assault case in Montreal, where he is accused of assaulting and forcibly confining a woman more than two decades ago. The preliminary inquiry for this case is set for January 2025. Additionally, Nygard faces charges in Winnipeg for offences allegedly committed in 1993, involving a 20-year-old woman. He has denied these charges as well.

Once his Canadian cases conclude, Nygard is set to be extradited to the US. US authorities have charged him with sex trafficking and racketeering offences, accusing him of a "decades-long pattern of criminal conduct" involving at least a dozen victims globally. The U.S. Department of Justice claims Nygard targeted "women and minor-aged girls who came from disadvantaged economic backgrounds or had a history of abuse", using them to recruit new victims.

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A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Nygard by 57 women in the US, but it is currently on hold amid his criminal proceedings. Nygard has been in custody in Canada since his 2020 arrest in Winnipeg. He stepped down as chairman of his firm in February 2020, shortly before it filed for bankruptcy following a raid by US authorities on its New York headquarters.