TORONTO (AP) — Former Canadian trend mogul Peter Nygard pleaded not responsible Thursday to all prices in opposition to him in his Toronto sexual assault case, as jury choice for his trial received underway.
The 82-year-old, who appeared in court docket in a wheelchair, sporting a black go well with together with his lengthy white hair tied again, entered his not responsible pleas earlier than sitting quietly beside his attorneys through the jury choice course of.
Nygard is going through 5 counts of sexual assault and one depend of forcible confinement, decreased from 11 whole prices after a court docket heard final week that three of the eight authentic complainants within the case usually are not anticipated to testify.
Nygard additionally is ready to be extradited to america to faces sex-related prices there, however solely as soon as his legal case in Canada is accomplished. Nygard was first arrested in Winnipeg in 2020 below the Extradition Act after being charged with 9 sex-related counts in New York.
Authorities within the U.S. allege he used his place within the trend business to lure ladies and women. The complainants allege they have been coerced into having intercourse with Nygard by monetary means or bodily drive.
The previous head of a multimillion-dollar clothes firm additionally faces a class-action lawsuit within the U.S. involving dozens of girls with related allegations.
He has denied all of the allegations in opposition to him.
Nygard based Nygard Worldwide in Winnipeg in 1967. For years, Nygard shops all through Winnipeg have been draped in photographs of him and he was given a key to the town in 2008.
He stepped down as chairman of the clothes firm in February 2020 earlier than it filed for chapter.
Arguments in his Toronto case are set to start Tuesday, with the trial anticipated to final roughly seven weeks.
