Former fashion executive Peter Nygard convicted of sexual assault in Montreal
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A Quebec judge has convicted former fashion executive Peter Nygard of sexual assault and forcible confinement, tied to incidents that occurred in Montreal during the 1990s.
The conviction came on Monday, the opening day of what had been expected to be a 10-day trial, after the 84-year-old declined to contest the evidence prosecutors had assembled. Quebec authorities first laid the charges against him in 2022.
It is the second criminal conviction Nygard has faced in Canada. In 2024, a Toronto court sentenced him to 11 years in prison after finding him guilty of sexually assaulting four women between the late 1980s and 2005. An Ontario appeals court upheld that conviction earlier this year, rejecting his bid to overturn it.
Gerri Wiebe, Nygard's lawyer, said her client's choice not to fight the Montreal charges was a calculated one, tied to the extradition proceedings he continues to face. Wiebe also said Nygard plans to ask Canada's justice minister to block any extradition to the United States, citing his age and health.
A separate set of historical sexual assault allegations against Nygard in Winnipeg was thrown out by a judge last year, after the court found that missing police records from the original investigation would have compromised his right to a fair trial.
Nygard built Nygard International into a global clothing design and manufacturing business before stepping down as chairman in 2020, just ahead of the company's bankruptcy filing, which followed a raid on its New York offices by U.S. federal authorities. Investigators there have alleged a pattern of abuse spanning decades, implicating at least a dozen women across multiple countries, and have accused Nygard of using his corporate wealth and standing to assault and traffic women in both Canada and the United States.
Once his outstanding Canadian legal matters are resolved, Nygard is expected to be extradited to face those U.S. charges — a process his legal team is now moving to challenge.
Nygard continues to deny all allegations made against him.