Peter Nygård

Nygård was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1941. His parents were Eeli and Hilkka Nygård, bakers who immigrated to Canada in 1952, settling at first in Deloraine, Manitoba (where Nygård Park would later be named in his honour in 2002). They moved shortly after to Winnipeg.[5]

In 1964, he graduated from the University of North Dakota with a business degree.[6][7]

On December 1, 1967, Nygård started working as sales manager for a new jeans line of a woman's clothing manufacturer Jacob Fashions . A few weeks later Nygård used his life savings of $8,000 and an additional loan to purchase 20% of the company from the founder Nathan Jacob. A few years later, Nygård bought the rest of the company from Jacob's daughters and renamed it Tan Jay.

Nygård apparel manufacturing company was founded in 1967 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Its Canada headquarters is now in Toronto, Ontario with its world headquarters in Times Square, New York.[8]

Nygård's fashion concept retail store opened in Times Square in Manhattan on Friday, November 6, 2009.

On February 25, 2020, Nygård stepped down as chairman of Nygård International, after their headquarters were raided in connection to sex trafficking claims.[3]

The company filed for Chapter 15 Bankruptcy in New York on March 18, 2020[9] and a Manitoba judge has ordered a group of Nygard companies into receivership on March 19, 2020.[10]

On April 30, 2020, A Canadian judge has given the green light to an accounting firm to sell and liquidate part of the business empire.[11]

In 1987, Nygård built a 14,000-square-metre (150,000 sq ft) compound at Lyford Cay in the Bahamas. It was partly destroyed by a fire on November 10, 2009.[12] The Cay is inspired by the Mayan civilization’s architecture. One of the major buildings is a 3,000 square metres (32,000 sq ft) grand-hall with a 45 tonnes (100,000 lb) glass ceiling.[13]

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.[14][15] But 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.[16]

Peter Nygård with fashion model Nicole Midwin at the Breast Cancer Awareness Show, 2017

Nygård has supported the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.[17]

Nygård has been a longtime sponsor of amateur sports in the Bahamas. In June 2010, is the main sponsor of Amateur Boxing Federation of the Bahamas' team for Continental Elite Boxing Championships Invitation only event slated for June 13–19 in Quito, Ecuador.[18] Wellington Miller, the president of the Bahamas Olympic Committee, said Nygård has contributed significantly to the Amateur Boxing Association of the Bahamas and their Olympic success.[19]

In April 2011, Nygård held the "2011 National Family Island Regatta" at Nygård Cay, which included a press conference to honor Bahamian musician "King" Eric Gibson.[20][21] In the same month, Nygård also donated $10,000 to Josie Poitier, a member of Old Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, during a Passover/Good Friday Breakfast/Brunch.[22]

Nygård has been accused of abusive labor practices, tax evasion, sexual harassment, sex trafficking, and rape.[23]

• In 1978, Nygård's takeover of a sportswear designer's business in New York City led to a 12-year legal battle in New York federal court.[23]
• In 1980, the Free Press wrote that Nygård was charged with the rape of an 18-year-old girl by Winnipeg authorities. Later those charges were dropped.[23]
• Nygård settled sexual harassment complaints by three former employees in Manitoba in the late 1990s.[23]
• In 1999, Nygård sued Linda Lampenius for defamation. The case was settled with Lampenius printing an apology in the Finnish press.[23]
• In 2003, Nygård was sued in Florida by an American couple who claimed he deceived them into accepting jobs as managers of his Bahamas estate. The case was settled in 2007.[23]
• In 2006, Canadian tax authorities claimed Nygård underreported $15 million in taxes. Nygård argued that he severed residential ties with Canada in 1975; he was ultimately subject to taxes on an unreported $2 million.[23]
• In 2007, a dispute escalated into a battle royal encompassing no fewer than 16 legal actions between Nygård and Louis Bacon and their associates, in which both sides are claiming damages in the tens of millions of dollars and lobbing allegations of activities that include vandalism, bribery, insider trading, arson, murder, destruction of the fragile seabed, and having a close association with the Ku Klux Klan.[24]
• In 2008, Nygård was sued in Los Angeles Superior Court by a former girlfriend for slamming a door on her hand. Nygård quickly settled the lawsuit.[23]
• In 2012, Nygård launched a lawsuit against the CBC regarding copyright issues about private videos taken at his residence, which were then used in an April 2010 documentary.[25][26] He had also launched a copyright complaint with the US District Court in New York[27][28][29] and a lawsuit in Manitoba to prevent the piece from airing.[30] He had previously sued two former employees for releasing confidential information and his lawyer claimed CBC harassed many of the employees.[30] Nygård launched a civil suit against his neighbor and the Lyford Cay Property Owners Association alleging they conspired with the CBC to damage his reputation; he also filed a private criminal prosecution against three CBC journalists accusing them of conspiring to discredit him and his clothing empire.[31][32]
• In 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.[33]
• In 2019, a warrant was issued after Nygård failed to appear in court multiple times for a sentencing hearing related to two contempt of court convictions in the Bahamas.[34]
• In September 2019, the New York Times was caught up in the feud between Peter Nygård and Louis Bacon. The suit claims that the reporters for the paper "tried to steer the individuals to provide information to fit a story" and that reporters wanted to "bring down" Nygård.[35]
• On November 15, 2019, a judge in the Bahamas sentenced Nygård to 90 days in prison and fined him $150,000 after finding he breached a court order prohibiting the disclosure of emails that were stolen from a non-profit group.[36]
• On November 24, 2019, Bahamas police began investigating six allegations of rape made against Nygård. (All the alleged victims are under 16.) [37]
• On January 27, 2020, Nygård faced two separate lawsuits after being accused of sexual assault.[38]
• On February 13, 2020, 10 women filed a class action against Nygård in New York, alleging that he had raped them at his Bahamas residence. They also alleged he maintained a sex-trafficking ring. (8 of the alleged victims were underaged.)[39][40]
• On February 25, 2020, the New York headquarters of Nygård were raided by the FBI and NYPD, in connection with sex trafficking claims. This led to Nygård stepping down from the company.[41][42][43][44]
• On April 22, 2020 36 new women joined sex assault suit that was filed on February 2020.[45]
• On June 17 2020 11 more new women joined the lawsuit.[46]

Nygard Family in 2004

He was briefly married to Carol Knight in the 1970s.[47]

He has eight or ten children with four or eight women.[23][48][49][23][50]