By: Staff Writer
January 12, 2021
The lawyer for jailed Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard said that if he remains in jail it is a “death sentence,” as he urges his release at the next bail hearing.
Jay Prober, told Caribbean Magazine Plus about what happened on Janaury 6 when Mr Nygard was originally scheduled to have his bail hearing: “We were on a regular bail docket. The court didn’t have time, so they set up what we call a special sitting for two days for bail on January 19 and 20 on what we call our court of Queen’s Bench. So that’s where we’re at.”
He added: “We couldn’t proceed with the bail application as scheduled on January 6. We asked that we do that, but the prosecution said we don’t have time the judge agreed and we’d have to put it over to a special day anyway. So that’s what we did.”
We reported two weeks ago that Mr Nygard’s court hearing for bail was to be held on January 6. Things have now changed and Justice Theodor Bock of the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench granted the government’s request Wednesday to keep Mr Nygard behind bars despite objections from his lawyers.
Mt Nygard, who is 79 years old, will remain in a Manitoba jail cell until his special bail sitting on January 19 and 20.
Mr Prober added: “He has serious health issues and he is particularly susceptible because of those issues to COVID and in his case, it would be deadly.”
Mr Nygard has been plagued with diabetes in addition to coronary heart disease and wears a pacemaker.
Scott Farlinger, who is representing the attorney general of Canada, said he planned to oppose Nygard’s release on bail and needed more time to review the application.
“There’s a serious risk of flight,” said Farlinger, citing Nygard’s history of failing to appear in court in the Bahamas, “resulting in contempt orders and even a contempt sentence.” He added that Nygard’s wealth would make it easy for him to flee and expressed concern that one of his friends who vouched for him in the bail application has a criminal record.
The Bahamas Supreme Court, in November, 2019 sentenced Mr Nygard to 90 days in prison and fined him US$150,000 for contempt of court in a long-running legal dispute centred on the Save The Bays (STB) environmental group’s stolen emails.
The emails surfaced in an affidavit exhibited by lawyer Keod Smith, one of Nygard’s Bahamian lawyers who represented the Canadian in an earlier contempt hearing. Later, the lawyers for STB secured an injunction preventing Nygard and Keod Smith from perusing, publishing or disseminating any information contained within the emails.
Insisting Mr Nygard’s health concerns are paramount, Mr Prober said: “He has all sorts of health issues. That’s why we are asking for him to be released, because it’s almost a death sentence for him if he stays in jail.”
More than 50 women have joined a class-action lawsuit, accusing Nygard of sexually abusing them from California, to The Bahamas to New York, where Mr Nygard’s former company, Nygard International was headquartered in Times Square. Two of the businessman’s sons sued him in August for allegedly hiring an escort to rape them when they were underage.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is seeking Nygard’s extradition to the United States but hasn’t filed a formal request yet.