The Tribune

UNEARTHED footage shows Lyford Cay resident Peter Nygard walking shirtless on a Brazilian beach and ogling at young girls in bikinis, while remarking that a 15-year-old should lie about her age, a video obtained by a UK website reveals.

The video posted on dailymail.com shows the indicted fashion mogul roaming Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach on what is said to be New Year’s Eve in 2007, pointing out young girls sunbathing and making lascivious remarks as he stands over them.

He uses a translator to question the girls about how old they are and when told one minor was just 15, the Canadian fashion designer laughs and responds: “Tell her to lie about her age.”

When told one young woman was 18, he seems pleased and says: “She’s legal.”

The video was published days after the US Department of Justice charged Nygard with sex trafficking and racketeering offences, unsealing a nine-page indictment that accuses him of sweeping criminal conduct involving minors and others.

The US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York said Nygard was taken into custody on Monday in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada by Canadian authorities at the request of US officials.

The self-styled playboy’s alleged conduct, the Southern District of New York said, arises “out of a decades-long pattern of criminal conduct involving at least dozens of victims in the United States, The Bahamas and Canada, among other locations.”

The indictment represents the gravest legal threat the long-time Lyford Cay resident has ever faced and it comes months after a class action lawsuit was filed in New York accusing him of raping numerous women, many of them Bahamians. The assertions in this week’s indictment largely mirror the allegations in the lawsuit.

Nygard has been charged with one count of racketeering, one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, three counts of sex trafficking of a minor and by force, fraud or coercion, one count of transportation of a minor for purpose of prostitution, two counts of transportation for purpose of prostitution and one count of transportation for purpose of prostitution and illegal sexual activity.

The indictment said Nygard “and others known and unknown, including employees of the Nygard Group, used company funds, employees, resources, and influence to recruit, entice, transport, harbour and maintain adult and minor-aged female victims for Nygard’s sexual gratification and, on occasion, the gratification of Nygard’s personal friends and business associates by, among other things, sex trafficking, interstate and international transport for purposes of engaging in prostitution and other illegal sexual activities, and related offences.

Nygard has denied any wrongdoing.