Peter Nygård

On February 18, 2021, it was reported that a new lawsuit had been filed by one of the class-action plaintiffs, which named Peter Nygård's niece, Angela Dyborn, as an alleged co-conspirator in the alleged sex-trafficking scheme. On March 26, 2021, Nygård was denied bail for a second time. In April 2021 it was reported that Nygård would face an extradition hearing in November 2021.

On 1 October 2021, Peter Nygard agreed to be extradited to the US, to face the charges against him that were filed there. The same day Nygard was charged by Toronto police with six counts of sexual assault and three counts of forcible confinement.

On January 25, 2021, CBC Podcasts released the first episode of their podcast, Evil by Design, about the allegations against Nygård. The podcast includes interviews with alleged victims. It was later adopted into a documentary series that appeared on CBC Gem. An episode of Dateline about the Nygard case also aired in December 2021.

In February 2020, the headquarters of Nygård International was raided as part of a sex trafficking investigation against Nygård by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The company filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in New York on March 18, 2020, and a Manitoba judge ordered a group of Nygård companies into receivership the following day. On April 30, a Canadian judge authorized an accounting firm to sell off part of the business.

On February 13, 2020, 10 women filed a class-action lawsuit against Nygård in New York, alleging that he had raped them at his Bahamas residence. The alleged attacks took place between 2008 and 2015. The women also alleged that he maintained a sex-trafficking ring, and that seven of the women were under 18 when the attacks took place.

On February 14, 2020, it was reported that the Bahamian police were investigating the allegations made by four of the women in the class-action suit. On February 25, 2020, the New York headquarters of Nygård International were raided by the FBI and the New York City Police Department in connection with sex trafficking claims. After these, Nygård announced that he would step down from the company and divest his ownership interest. In March 2020, a judge said that there was no evidence Nygård had actually resigned, and that he still owned 100% of the shares of the Nygård group of companies.

On April 20, 2020, 36 new women joined the class-action suit, bringing the total number of plaintiffs in the sexual assault case to 46. On June 17, 2020, it was reported that 11 more women had joined the class-action lawsuit, bringing the total number of plaintiffs to 57. On July 9, 2020, Nygard filed a motion to dismiss the claims of 52 of the plaintiffs, stating that "numerous deficiencies" barred their claims, and in particular that the claims of 50 of the plaintiffs lacked any connection to New York. He also argued that the statute of limitations had expired for 38 of the plaintiffs.

On August 17, 2020, Nygård was sued by two of his sons on accusations of directing a known sex worker said to be "his girlfriend" to rape them. On August 22, 2020, it was reported that the class-action suit had been placed on hold, the US government having requested a stay of proceedings while the criminal investigation was ongoing.

On December 15, 2020, it was reported that Nygård had been arrested in Winnipeg for extradition to the US to face charges of sex trafficking by the US attorney's office in Manhattan. On February 5, 2021, Nygård was denied bail and faced extradition to the US.

On December 17, 2020, two days after Nygård's arrest, it was reported that Discovery+ was releasing a series about Peter Nygård's life entitled Unseamly: The Investigation of Peter Nygård. The documentary aired in February 2021, and included interviews with family members and former Nygård employees.

Nygård has been involved in numerous lawsuits before his arrest in 2020, including suits involving alleged abusive labour practices, tax evasion, and conspiring to murder

On December 15, 2020, Nygård was arrested in Winnipeg, Canada, under the Extradition Act. As of February 2021 he was in jail awaiting extradition proceedings, and a potential extradition to the US.

On November 24, 2019, Bahamian police began investigating six allegations of rape made against Nygård. All the alleged victims were under 16. On January 27, 2020, Nygård faced two separate lawsuits after being accused of sexual assault.

A letter from the Bahamian prime minister's office rejected his construction application, citing the improper expansion of his property through intentional accretion of land over the seabed. On September 28, 2018, Nygård Cay was seized by the Supreme Court of the Bahamas as part of a legal battle surrounding Nygård’s efforts to dredge the sea floor around the estate. In 2021 the property is in a general state of disrepair.

In 2012, Nygård was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

In the summer of 2010, Bacon's house was raided by Bahamian police, leading to the confiscation of the speakers. Bacon claimed it was the work of Nygård, a claim he denied. Vanity Fair reported that Nygård also used fake news sites to smear Bacon as running a drug-smuggling operation, as a member of the KKK, having been charged with insider trading, and being involved in murdering the Point House caretaker. In January 2015, Bacon filed a defamation lawsuit against Nygård over these claims. In January 2021, Savvy Media Holdings acquired the rights to a couple of books relating to Nygård's feud with Louis Bacon, to make a feature film. Justin Lader was chosen to write the film.

In 1984, he purchased a beach bungalow for $1.76 million. In 1987 Nygård built a 14,000-square-metre (150,000 sq ft) compound at Lyford Cay in the Bahamas. On April 14, 2010, Nygård announced he was planning a $50-million renovation of Nygård Cay, which would take two years to complete and repair the damage and employ 200 construction workers.

Nygård has ten children with eight women. Nygård has been a longtime sponsor of amateur sports in the Bahamas. In June 2010, he was the main sponsor of the Amateur Boxing Federation of the Bahamas team for Continental Elite Boxing Championships, an invitation-only event in Quito, Ecuador.

Nygård established Nygård Apparel Manufacturing Company, later rebranded Nygård International, in Winnipeg in 1967. The company's Canadian headquarters were located on King Street in Toronto, Ontario, while its world headquarters were located in Times Square, New York, New York, United States. Times Square was also the location of Nygård's fashion concept retail store, which opened on Friday, November 6, 2009.

In 2005, Nygård attempted to solve a parking overflow problem at Nygård Cay by installing a large concrete slab on Louis Bacon's property. Bacon sought and obtained a court injunction to remove it. In 2007, Bacon, annoyed by noise at Nygård's house, installed industrial-grade speakers at the edge of his property and pointed them at Nygård's house.

In 2002, Deloraine, Manitoba where Nygård grew up, unveiled a commemorative plaque and named a park in his honour. In May 2020, the park’s name was changed to Prairie Sentinels Park, after Nygård was arrested under charges of sex trafficking and rape.

Peter J. Nygård (born Pekka Juhani Nygård; born July 24, 1941) is a Finnish-Canadian fashion executive. In 1967, he founded Nygård International, a Winnipeg-based company that made women's apparel. In 2020, Nygård was accused of long-term sex trafficking, rape, and racketeering after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided his company's offices in New York City. Later that year, he was formally charged and was arrested on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, including allegations of sex trafficking involving minors. In October 2021, Nygård was charged by Toronto police with multiple counts of sexual assault and forcible confinement in incidents that occurred between the mid-1980s and mid-2000s; accusations of sexual misconduct by Nygård date as far back as 1968. As of September 2022, Nygård's criminal trials are ongoing and he has not been convicted of any crimes.

Peter Nygård was born Pekka Juhani Nygård in Helsinki, Finland, on July 24, 1941. His parents emigrated to Deloraine, Manitoba, Canada, in 1952, when Nygård was around eleven years old. In 1964, Nygård graduated from the University of North Dakota with a business degree.