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Former Finnish-Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygård, found guilty last November of four counts of sexual assault, was sentenced to 11 years in prison at a Toronto courthouse on Monday after several sentencing delays.
The sentence takes into account the four years that he has already spent in prison. Nygård, 83, has just under seven years left in his sentence.
The Crown had sought a 15-year prison sentence while Nygård’s lawyer, Gerri Wiebe, asked for six years, citing her client’s age and poor health.
“There’s a risk, obviously, that he’ll die in jail,” said Jeremy Newton, a criminal defence lawyer.
“I think the court in this case saw that age can play a factor in reducing the sentence somewhat, but overall people still are generally held to the consequences of their actions.”
During the six-week trial last year, five women provided testimony from a period ranging from the late 1980s to 2005. Each said that they ended up in Nygård’s private bedroom suite in his downtown Toronto office, where they said he proceeded to attack, overpower and sexually assault them.
In December 2020, Nygård was arrested by Canadian police on behalf of the United States. Nygård also faces charges in New York for nine offences that include conspiracy to commit racketeering, transportation of a minor for the purpose of prostitution and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. Toronto police laid charges on Nygård a year later.
In addition to Toronto and New York, Nygård also faces charges in Manitoba and Quebec.
Nygård continues to deny all allegations and is fighting extradition to the U.S.
Nygård’s fall from grace
Nygård founded clothing brand Nygård International in 1967. It was at one point the largest producer of women’s apparel in Canada, according to Forbes.
“Nygård directly influenced the Canadian fashion industry and to various degrees, the North American and global industries as well,” said Henry Navarro Delgado, an associate professor at The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University.
“He joins the ranks of other disgraced fashion executives, the individual faces of a system plagued by unethical labour practices, environmental violence, discriminatory processes and abuses of power.”
In March 2020, Nygård International filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in New York. Only months after his arrest in December that year, Nygård’s company was approved for liquidation by Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Justice James Edmond.
OTR reporter, fall 2024
