NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard’s Manhattan headquarters was reportedly raided by the FBI and New York police on Tuesday.
The New York Times reported that officers were “seeking evidence in a sex-trafficking investigation”.
Nygard has been accused of using his wealth and political influence in The Bahamas to lure, rape and sodomize more than 10 women, most of whom were underage guests at his infamous Nygard Cay “pamper parties”.
A Federal class action lawsuit was filed in a Manhattan Court earlier this month, detailing allegations of a decades-long sex-trafficking scheme that Nygard and his companies knowingly facilitated and benefitted from – and Bahamian officials were paid to ignore.
It accuses Nygard and his companies, Nygard Inc., Nygard International Partnership, and Nygard Holdings Limited of violation of the Trafficking Victim Protection Act (TVPA); participating in a venture in violation of the TVPA; and conspiracy to commit violation of the TVPA.
The complaint details the accounts of 10 women, six of whom were minors at the time, and who were allegedly lured to Nygard Cay in hopes of landing modeling contracts or fashion careers.
The youngest defendant listed in the complaint was 14 years old at the time of the alleged rape.
The plaintiffs are being represented by DiCello Levitt Gutzler LLC, and Haba Law Firm.
Nygard has denied the allegations and accused his Lyford Cay neighbor, hedge-fund billionaire Louis Bacon of partly funding the federal class-action lawsuit.
American lawyers defending the case reportedly told the New York Times that they have no financial ties to Bacon, and have never paid any accuser or witness in the course of their investigations.
