Peter Nygard's extradition hearing on U.S. sex charges set for November
Could take years before potential appeals are exhausted: lawyer
Peter Nygard will face extradition proceedings starting Nov. 15, 11 months after he was arrested in Winnipeg on a nine-count indictment in the United States on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and related crimes.
The charges relate to "a decades-long pattern of criminal conduct involving at least dozens of victims in the United States, the Bahamas, and Canada, among other locations," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
Nygard has remained behind bars since his arrest last winter after his bail application was denied and an appeal was dismissed.
B.C. extradition lawyer Gary Botting says the attorney general will present the record of the case based on materials from the prosecutor in the United States to show that the evidence is sufficient to warrant bringing charges in Canada if those actions had happened in Canada.
"The judge just simply has to think whether or not the conduct of Mr. Nygard in the United States would have amounted to criminal charges here in Canada. And if so, then then extradition must follow," said Botting.
Botting says it could take up to three years before Nygard exhausts all avenues of appeal, should a Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench justice rule in favour of extraditing him.
Besides appealing any decision to higher courts, Nygard has the right to make submissions to the federal justice minister to argue he should not be surrendered for humanitarian, constitutional or other reasons.
The case is scheduled for five days in Manitoba's Court of Queen's Bench.
None of the charges against Nygard have been proven in court.