Winnipeg lawyer to represent Peter Nygard in Montreal sex assault, forcible confinement case

Former Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard will now be represented by a Winnipeg lawyer on charges of sexual assault and forcible confinement he faces in Montreal.

Defence lawyer Gerri Wiebe told a Quebec court Monday morning she'd gotten permission from the Quebec bar association to represent Nygard in the Montreal case.

"I have communicated to my learned friend, [prosecutor Jérôme] Laflamme, that I will seek the disclosure from previous counsel and review it," said Wiebe, who appeared in court by video.

"And then he and I can have a conversation about the expected trial length, as well as any pretrial motions and the scheduling of when those should occur."

Wiebe is also representing Nygard on similar charges he faces in Winnipeg, and served as his counsel during sentencing in Toronto after he was convicted of sexual assault there last year.

She joins the Montreal case after Nygard's previous legal counsel there ceased to represent him earlier this year.

Nygard, who appeared in court Monday by video from the federal institution in Ontario where he is serving time, spoke only to identify himself when he first appeared on-screen and to answer a question about whether he agreed with Wiebe's suggestion to adjourn the case until October.

"Yes I do, yes," said Nygard, who wore dark glasses and a baseball cap with what appeared to be a note reading "90% blind/deaf" on it.

Nygard, who is in his 80s, previously appeared in court on the same matter in January for a preliminary hearing in the Montreal case.

The founder of a defunct international women's clothing company is facing trial for incidents that allegedly took place between Nov. 1, 1997, and Nov. 15, 1998. Quebec prosecutors charged Nygard in March 2022.

He was sentenced in September 2024 in the Toronto case to 11 years in prison after he was found guilty on four counts of sexual assault for offences from the 1980s to mid-2000s.

During that sentencing, Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Goldstein called Nygard a "sexual predator" and "a Canadian success story gone very wrong."

Nygard also faces sex-related charges in Manitoba, and U.S. authorities have sought his extradition on a nine-count indictment filed in New York, alleging he was involved in illegal activity for the purpose of sexually abusing and trafficking women and underage girls.

The charges against Nygard in Manitoba and in the U.S. have not been tested in court.

In November 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada announced it would not hear a request by Nygard for a judicial review of the order to extradite him to the U.S. In 2022, then-federal justice minister David Lametti ruled that Nygard could be extradited once his legal cases in Canada are settled.

Nygard has denied all the allegations against him and is appealing his convictions and sentence in Ontario.