Former fashion mogul Peter Nygard has been found guilty by a Canadian judge of sexual assault and forcible confinement the charges related to incidents that took place in Montreal in the 1990s, Canadian media report.<\/p>\n
The ruling came after Nygard, 84, chose not to present any evidence in his defence in a Montreal courthouse on Monday, the first day of his trial in the case. He had been charged by prosecutors in the province of Quebec in 2022.<\/p>\n
His trial was scheduled to last 10 days.<\/p>\n
In 2024, in a separate case, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for sexually assaulting four women in Toronto, Canada, from the late 1980s to 2005.<\/p>\n
His appeal in that case was dismissed by an Ontario court earlier this year.<\/p>\n
The BBC has contacted Nygard’s lawyer for comment.<\/p>\n
Further historical sexual assault charges against Nygard in Winnipeg, Manitoba, were stayed by a judge last year over concerns his right to a fair trial were breached when police failed to retain older records.<\/p>\n
Nygard has been accused of using his wealth and influence to systematically assault and traffic women in the US and Canada over a number of decades, when he was at the helm Nygard International, his global clothing design and manufacturing business.<\/p>\n
In 2020, he stepped down as chairman of the firm shortly before it filed for bankruptcy after US authorities raided its New York headquarters.<\/p>\n
Once his legal cases in Canada are completed, he is expected to be extradited to the US, where authorities claim he engaged in a “decades-long pattern of criminal conduct” involving at least a dozen victims across the globe.<\/p>\n