The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THIRTY-SIX women have joined a US class action lawsuit accusing Peter Nygard of rape.

The lawsuit initially featured nine Bahamians and one American plaintiff but now includes 12 Bahamians, 14 Americans, 18 Canadians, one British and one German female plaintiff.

Twenty-four of the alleged incidents took place in The Bahamas while Mr Nygard’s residences in Marina Del Rey, California, New York City and Winnipeg, Canada were alleged sites of the other assaults.

Twelve of the plaintiffs were between 14 and 17 when they were allegedly raped.

Lawyers for the women want a New York court to award punitive or exemplary damages to their clients.

Mr Nygard and his companies are listed as defendants.

“Using interstate and foreign commerce” they allegedly “conspired to and did recruit, lure and entice young, impressionable, and often impoverished children and women, with cash payments and and false promises of lucrative modelling opportunities or other career opportunities or other career opportunities to assault, rape and sodomize them,” the lawsuit claims.

“Nygard used his considerable influence in the fashion industry, his wealth, his power through corruption of officials, and a network of company employees under his direction, to kidnap, groom and entice children and women. Defendants knew that Nygard would use means of alcohol, drugs, force, fraud, and/or other forms of coercion to rape, sexually assault, sexually batter, molest and/or sex traffic these children and women and, in many cases, with knowledge that they were younger than eighteen years old. defendants knowingly benefited from, and received value for, their participation in the conspiracy and/or venture and the Nygard companies knew, or should have known, that Nygard would rape, sexually assault, sexually batter, molest, and/or sex traffic Jane Does numbers 1-46 and the other class members––many of whom were under the age of 18.”

The lawsuit alleges Mr Nygard protected himself in the Bahamas by bribing officials. The suit identifies a number of political and law enforcement figures invited to his Lyford Cay over the years.

The lawsuit alleges one of Mr Nygard’s “girlfriends” was sent to the office of a senior politician to ask for help and when she arrived at that politician’s office, the man allegedly took his penis out and attempted to engage her in sexual activity to which she refused.

The lawsuit further identifies a handful of Bahamian police officers who were allegedly on Mr Nygard’s payroll and were used to help “bury reports of sexual abuse, supply information regarding ongoing investigations into his sex crimes, trace the whereabouts of people who crossed him, and intimidate, threaten to arrest, and otherwise harass his victims to ensure that they would not come forward.”

“In addition to politicians, government officials, and police,” the lawsuit claims, “Nygard also paid for favourable media coverage and propaganda in the Bahamas to help further his agenda, silence his victims, and perpetuate defendants’ conspiracy and/or sex trafficking scheme.”

“Nygard’s Bahamian victims have been previously unable to come forward to report his illegal activity and pursue their claims against him for reasons including, without limitation, cultural stigmatisation, shame, weak laws that are rarely enforced, low clearance rates for sexual-assault investigations, corrupt law enforcement and government officials, fear of Nygard’s wealth, power and influence in the Bahamas, and psychological manipulation and intimidation tactics used by Nygard, including the commonly held belief that Nygard has bribed government officials, police, and the media.

The lawsuit says in addition to “Nygard’s political power in the Bahamas, Nygard and the Nygard Companies also boast of his ‘extensive political leverage’ in the United States and Canada, and tout his relationships with ‘many high profile dignitaries’ including ‘the Duke of Edinburgh, Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, President Gorbachev of the USSR, President Mauno Koivisto of Finland, Sha Lin – Mayor of Shanghai, President Vicente Fox of Mexico, President George Bush Sr, and Prime Minister Pindling of the Bahamas.”

According to the lawsuit, Mr Nygard has publicly stepped down from his companies but has not divested his ownership interest in them and instead continues to direct them behind the scenes.

To fund Mr Nygard’s infamous “pamper parties,” the mogul’s companies transferred cash from their bank account in Canada, rerouted the funds through New York and deposited them in a Bahamian bank account belonging to a local holding company, the lawsuit claims. It is further alleged that Mr Nygard used his customised N-Force jet to transport his victims to destinations in the United States, Canada and the Bahamas.

Among the foreigners Mr Nygard allegedly raped in the Bahamas is a Canadian woman who was about 20 in 1995 when she was invited to Nygard Cay under the guise of a modelling job after visiting a company of Mr Nygard’s in Toronto. She was allegedly raped, sodomised and penetrated with an object multiple times and begged to leave the property but was not allowed to. The lawsuit says Mr Nygard eventually booked her a return plane ticket through his companies, allowing her to leave.

Another foreigner Mr Nygard allegedly raped is an American woman who was brought to this country in 1997 by her modelling sponsor for a calendar photoshoot. She met Mr Nygard in a casino and he invited her to Nygard Cay.

“Nygard talked with Jane Doe No 29 about modelling for the Nygard Companies,” the lawsuit says. “A couple of months later Nygard called Jane Doe No 29 and invited her to stay with him at Nygard Cay to discuss modeling. Nygard raped Jane Doe No 29 several times while she was at Nygard Cay. After two trips to Nygard Cay, where Nygard raped Jane Doe No 29 on numerous occasions, Nygard convinced her to travel to Marina Del Rey by continuing to promise modelling opportunities. Nygard raped Jane Doe No 29 while at the Marina Del Rey property on several occasions. Nygard paid Jane Doe No 29 $700 in US currency before she left.”

One alleged victim claimed Mr Nygard raped her when she was 15-years-old. From 2005 to 2008 she allegedly became a regular sex partner of his because she was an orphan and Mr Nygard falsely promised her a job working for his companies, the lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit, Mr Nygard’s employees searched social media platforms for girls to attend his parties and only the ones meeting his “sexual specifications of being slim bodied and beautiful are added to the list’.”

“Nygard has also described the females he desires as an ‘eight in the face and nice toilet.’ Other girls that do not meet this qualification are turned away at the security gate,” the lawsuit says.