It appears that yet another high-profile individual has been busted for trafficking minor children for sex. Peter Nygard, a prominent Canadian fashion retailer, has been indicted on charges of sex trafficking and other crimes involving women, many of whom were underaged.
Prosecutors stated that Nygard, 79, is accused of “a decades-long pattern of criminal conduct” in the United States, Canada, and the Bahamas. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, the authorities arrested the fashion mogul in Winnipeg on Monday at the request of the United States under an extradition treaty.
Nygard is being accused of using the influence of his company and its employees to “recruit and maintain adult and minor-aged female victims” over a 25-year period. These minor females were sexually abused by himself and his associates. The victims were assaulted or drugged “to ensure their compliance with his sexual demands,” according to federal prosecutors.
The New York Times reported:
“Mr. Nygard, who had a reputation as a playboy and once described the young women he surrounded himself with as “the source of youth,” launched his multinational fashion company in Winnipeg more than 50 years ago.
He stepped down from Nygard International in February, after federal authorities raided his home in Los Angeles and corporate headquarters in New York, and major customers dropped his fashion lines.”
In February 2020, law enforcement raided the company’s headquarters. The raids were conducted as part of an investigation into allegations of sexual assault.
The Associated Press reported that “the FBI searched the designer’s Times Square offices less than two weeks after 10 women filed a lawsuit accusing Nygard of enticing young and impoverished women to his estate in the Bahamas with cash and promises of modeling opportunities.”
The report added, “Several plaintiffs in the suit said they were 14 or 15 years old when Nygard gave them alcohol or drugs and then raped them.”
The mogul is also on the receiving end of a class-action lawsuit in the United States alleging that he sexually assaulted dozens of women. “Fifty-seven women – including 18 Canadians – have joined the lawsuit, which alleges that Nygard used violence, intimidation, bribery and company employees to lure victims and avoid accountability for decades,” according to the AP.
Nygard has denied all allegations, claiming that they stem from a conspiracy created by a billionaire neighbor with whom he was feuding. The lawsuit alleges that the fashion designer “used his company, bribery of Bahamian officials and ‘considerable influence in the fashion industry,” to entice his victims. He allegedly plied the young women with drugs and alcohol during “pamper parties” and even maintained a database on a corporate server containing the names of thousands of possible victims.
The AP reported noted that “Nygard’s victims would have their passports taken from them when they were flown into the Bahamas, the lawsuit alleges, adding the designer ‘expected a sex act before he was willing to consider releasing any person’ from his estate.”
If the allegations are true, it looks like Nygard maintained a sex trafficking operation rivaling that of New York financier Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. According to the reports, his pedophile ring may have been even more extensive.
However, since there does not seem to be any indication that any famous individuals were involved in his alleged activities, this story might not get the attention it deserves. Unfortunately, the media tends to focus solely on stories that involve the rich and famous, which is one of the reasons why most Americans are not aware of how prevalent the human trafficking industry is in the United States.
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