Fashion mogul Peter Nygård has been arrested in Canada after US authorities charged him with with racketeering and sex trafficking, alleging decades of crimes that left dozens of victims in the United States, the Bahamas and Canada.
Nygård, who is 79, was arrested in Winnipeg under the extradition act on Monday and made an initial appearance in court on Tuesday. He wore a white face mask, a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants, with his long white hair pulled back in a bun. He has denied wrongdoing.
Acting US attorney Audrey Strauss in Manhattan said Nygård had since
1995 used his influence and businesses to "recruit and maintain" victims in the United States, Canada and the Bahamas to sexually gratify himself and his associates.
Authorities said that victims were assaulted by Nygård or his associates, with some drugged to ensure they met his sexual demands, and that Nygård often targeted victims who came from disadvantaged backgrounds or had suffered abuse.
The nine-count indictment said Nygård used multiple means to recruit victims.
These allegedly included company-funded "Pamper Parties" named for their free food, drink and spa services, and held at his properties in Marina del Rey in California and the Bahamas.
The indictment said Nygård took some victims – he called them "girlfriends" – to swingers clubs where they would be intimidated into having sex with other men, "to facilitate Nygård having sex with other women and for his own sexual gratification".
Nygård also used threats of arrest, reputational harm and lawsuits to silence potential accusers, the indictment said.
Early this year the FBI searched the designer's Times Square offices less than two weeks after 10 women filed a civil lawsuit accusing Nygård of enticing young and impoverished women to his estate in the Bahamas with cash and promises of modeling opportunities.
Several plaintiffs in the suit said they were
14 or 15 years old when Nygård gave them alcohol or drugs and then raped them.