FBI and NYPD detectives raided the Manhattan headquarters of fashion executive Peter Nygard on Tuesday morning in connection with an ongoing sex-trafficking investigation, according to the New York Times, citing two law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The 78-year-old Nygard has been under investigation for at least five months by a joint child-exploitation task force overseen by the Manhattan US attorney’s office. According to the report, at least four women have accused Nygard in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting them when they were 14 and 15.
While the raid is the latest in an ongoing joint investigation, Nygard has racked up decades of sexual misconduct allegations culminating in lawsuits from nine women.
That lawsuit was filed this month. On Sunday, The New York Times detailed how a fight with his wealthy neighbor led to the lawsuit, and also showed a pattern of complaints about sexual misconduct by Mr. Nygard stretching back 40 years.
Nine women in Canada and California, mostly employees, have sued him or reported him to authorities alleging sexual harassment or assault since 1980. In addition, another nine former employees told The Times in interviews that he raped them, touched them inappropriately or proposed sex. –NYT
The Times interviewed the 10 women – most of whom allege Nygard raped them during “pamper parties” in the Bahamas, his home since 1986. The parties, which mostly took place on Sundays at his lavish estate, featured young women who would receive ‘pedicures, massages, Jet Ski rides and endless alcohol,’ according to the report.
Nygard has denied the charges, claiming that his adversary and neighbor in the Bahamas – hedge-fund billionaire Louis Bacon and his private investigators are behind the charges. Bacon says he wanted to get justice for the women.
See here for more on the spat between Nygard and Bacon.
Meanwhile, Nygard was also investigated in late 2015 and the summer of 2017 on sex-trafficking allegations. He was also probed by the Department of Homeland Security, which investigated him for nine months with no result.
Nygard notoriously travels with an entourage of models and paid girlfriends as a self-avowed playboy. He has at least 10 children with eight women, and demands a steady supply of sex partners ‘who hunted for young women at shops, clubs and restaurants’ for him.
Sound familiar?
By Tyler Durden | ZeroHedge.com | Republished with permission
