NEW YORK, NY, Weds. Feb. 26, 2020: The FBI and NYPD raided the Manhattan offices of fashion mogul Peter Nygard Tuesday amid an ongoing federal sex-trafficking investigation and claims that Nygard plied underage girls with booze at sex parties at his Bahamas mansion.
Photos from the office raid show federal agents and city cops swarming the company’s Broadway headquarters — and hauling away at least a half-dozen cardboard boxes. A spokesman for Nygard said the wealthy playboy’s Los Angeles offices were also raided.
Manhattan US Attorney’s Office spokesman Nicholas Biase confirmed Tuesday’s raid but declined to provide details.
The raid comes on the heels of a federal lawsuit filed Feb. 13th by 10 unidentified women who accuse the 78-year-old Canadian businessman of a “decades-long sex-trafficking scheme.”
One accuser says she was just 15 at the time of the abuse. The age of consent in the Bahamas is 16.
According to the lawsuit, Nygard regularly hosted sex-fueled soirées known as “pamper parties” at his ritzy mansion in exclusive Lyford Cay in the Bahamas – which he renamed – Nygard Cay in 1992.
The parties were “both to promote the Nygard company’s brand and facilitate commercial sex acts,” the lawsuit charges.
Lawyers for the accusers said they have “over 100 witnesses” in the case that includes “dozens of victims.”
The news comes as Nygard announced late Tuesday he was stepping down as chairman of Nygard International and will divest his ownership interest.
