More women have come forward to join the lawsuit against former Winnipeg fashion mogul Peter Nygard.
There are now 46 women listed on the complaint against Nygard according to an amended class action lawsuit – which accuses him of rape, sexual assault and human trafficking.
Four women claim they were either raped or sexually assaulted in Winnipeg. At least two of the women are from Winnipeg.
A woman listed as Jane Doe No. 15 says she was flown to the Nygard Companies’ Winnipeg property under the guise of a modeling job where she was “held captive against her will for three days and raped repeatedly by Nygard.”
Jane Doe No. 27 says she met Nygard at the Nygard Companies’ Winnipeg office seeking a modelling sponsorship. She says during her meeting, Nygard complemented her and then groped her breasts.
Jane Doe No. 37 says her father sold Nygard furs through his business so she knew Nygard and frequently saw him at the store. She says that when she was 15, Nygard raped her in the bathroom at a Winnipeg restaurant.
Jane Doe No. 44 was 14 and in the child welfare system when she says Nygard picked her up on the street in Winnipeg and paid her for oral sex. She claims this happened on multiple occasions.
Twelve of the victims were under 18 when the alleged crimes happened.
The original civil class action lawsuit was filed in a New York court in February with 10 women listed in the complaint at the time.
None of the allegations against Nygard have been proven in court. He has denied the allegations.
Read the amended complaint:
Nygard stepped down from his company after his Times Square headquarters were raided by the FBI and New York City police.
The lawsuit names Nygard himself, who is the founder and chair of Nygard International Partnership and Nygard Holding Ltd. All three are named in the lawsuit as defendants, with the suit stating his companies were knowing participants in Nygard’s “decades-long sex trafficking scheme.”
Nygard’s lawyer Jay Prober says all of the allegations are false.
“They’re just as false as the first 10 allegations. I’ve described the amended class action, including some 30 new complainants as a work of fiction. That’s exactly what it is. It makes a farce of the whole matter,” he said.
“What’s happened in my view is the US lawyers through advertising have gone out and beaten the bushes for more complainants. Lo and behold what you have is a number of other women jumping on what they think is a money train or gravy train and hope to cash in at the end of the day.”
Prober says the fact all the stories are similar lead him to believe they’re not a representation of a patter of behavior, rather rehearsed.
“These are not credible allegations and the fact they are so similar detracts credibility,” he said.
“Think about it. Not one of these almost 50 women ever complained to anybody in authority — not one. Does that not strike you as rather strange? It certainly does me having practiced as long as I have.”
Prober named hedge fund billionaire Louis Bacon as being behind the lawsuit and said the pair have been feuding for a decade both in the Bahamas and in New York City.
Bacon has not responded to repeated requests for comment.
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