The FBI and New York police executed the search warrant, mentioned Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the US Lawyer’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Nygard’s spokesman Ken Frydman mentioned authorities executed search warrants on Nygard’s places of work in New York and California, and he mentioned his shopper is “not shocked” by the raids.
“Nygard welcomes the federal investigation and expects his identify to be cleared,” Frydman mentioned. “He has not been charged, is not in custody and is cooperating with the investigation.”
He later introduced Nygard will step down as chairman and will divest his possession curiosity.
Whereas there are not any publicly filed prices in opposition to Nygard, the incontrovertible fact that the FBI searched his office suggests the existence of a federal legal investigation.
“The great Nygard workers who depend upon the firms for his or her livelihoods should now be the precedence,” Frydman’s assertion reads. “Peter Nygard thanks his workers for his or her years of devoted service.”
The businessman allegedly used his ties to the style business to entice younger girls with medication, cash and hopes of a profitable modeling profession.
The swimsuit additionally accuses Nygard of sex trafficking at Lyford Cay, a 150,000 square-foot compound in the Bahamas.
The lawsuit says some of the younger girls have been held at one of his properties, the place they weren’t allowed to go away with out his permission and have been pressured to carry out sex acts. They have been additionally pressured to recruit new victims, the swimsuit says.
Nygard additionally saved a database of potential victims by means of his firm’s company server that had info on greater than 7,500 underage ladies and girls, the lawsuit alleges.
A spokesperson for Nygard has instructed CNN the lawsuit was “anticipated” and meant to break Nygard’s fame by means of false statements.
CNN has reached out to an legal professional representing the victims.
Nygard is chairman of Nygard Worldwide, a privately held firm he based in 1967.
“Nygard created a typical of excellence for the Canadian girls’s style business by having the #1 acknowledged label in the Canadian market,” the firm’s web site says.
Nygard’s manufacturers embrace SLIMS, Bianca Nygard and TanJay.
Following the raid, division retailer Dillard’s introduced they have been refusing deliveries, canceling orders and suspending future purchases from Nygard, a press release from the firm mentioned. The choice got here “in mild of the severe allegations” regarding Nygard, the firm mentioned.
CNN’s Sheena Jones and Madeline Holcombe contributed to this report.