The former fashion mogul Peter Nygard was found guilty of sexual assault and forcible confinement in a Quebec court on Monday, according to a Quebec Crown prosecutor.
The new development marks the latest legal conviction that Nygard, 84, has faced. The executive stepped down from Nygard International in 2020, after federal investigators and officials from the New York City Police Department raided his New York office in relation to sex trafficking charges. He was arrested in Winnipeg in December 2020, and has remained in custody since that time.
Quebec Crown prosecutor Jérôme Laflamme told reporters Monday that Nygard had provided no opposition to the Crown’s evidence — and no defense — and he pleaded guilty, according to video footage of his remarks.
“Mr. Nygard’s change of heart was quite sudden,” Laflamme said, adding that the plaintiff had been in the courthouse and was prepared to testify. “I can’t wait to go meet her now and explain the situation to her,” he said.
This case is separate from Nygard’s 2023 conviction on four counts of sexual assault, and the 11-year prison sentence that he is currently serving for that.
Nygard attended Monday’s hearing virtually from his prison in Ontario. The plaintiff’s identity is protected by a publication ban.
A court official in Montreal said Monday that she was unable to share any specifics about the hearing.
The victim reportedly was an 18-year-old aspiring model when she met the former fashion executive in a bar. He later reportedly invited her to lunch at his workplace to discuss her career. The sexual assault and forced confinement were said to have occurred in his penthouse, after they went there, due to his claim that he had forgotten his keys.
The incidents reportedly took place in November 1997 and November 1998.
Reached Monday night, Nygard’s attorney Gerri Wiebe said that Nygard made “a strategic decision to enter into a plea bargain in order to remain in Canada while he seeks a reconsideration of his extradition order.”
In 2021, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York issued a nine-count indictment against Nygard, whose extradition to the U.S. for sex trafficking and racketeering is pending.
Those alleged acts were said to have involved dozens of women and reportedly occurred in California, Canada and the Bahamas. Nygard’s legal issues in Canada need to be settled before he can be extradited. He was cleared for extradition in 2024 after a failed appeal.
Wiebe said of the Monday decision that “his defense was able to provide the prosecution with evidence that substantially weakened the likelihood of his conviction at trial, and was therefore able to secure an agreement to postpone the sentencing and secure a joint recommendation for sentence that reflects the true plea bargain that occurred.”
The next court date is set for Oct. 2 to discuss “an update on the progress of the medical reports that we will be obtaining,” Wiebe said.
