Peter Nygård to Be Spotlighted in Four-Part Streaming Series
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: While Peter Nygård remains in a Winnipeg jail, Discovery+ is planning to launch a four-part series about the apparel magnate and the sexual misconduct accusations that have been made against him.
The 79-year-old founder of Nygård International is facing a nine-count indictment that includes allegations of racketeering and sex trafficking brought forward by the Southern District of New York. A bail hearing for Nygård will resume Thursday in Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench. He is also facing extradition charges to the U.S.
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Billed as “a true crime documentary thriller,” the four-part series is being produced by Blackfin and is titled “Unseamly: The Investigation of Peter Nygård.” It will debut on Feb. 5, with all episodes available for streaming at that time on Discovery+. The series highlights his career and his playboy lifestyle. “Unseamly” features 19 interviews with accusers, journalists, attorneys, family members and former Nygård employees. Some are said to be coming forward for the first time.
He allegedly used employees to convince women to spend the night, and one accuser alleged in the trailer for “Unseamly” that she was encouraged to take drugs.
A spokesman for Nygård has repeatedly denied the allegations against him.
The divide between Nygård and his hedge fund neighbor in the Bahamas, Louis Bacon, is also part of the narrative. The two men warred for years over Nygård’s blowout parties at his Mayan-inspired six-acre estate in Lyford Cay. Press material notes how Bacon and a nonprofit that he helped fund paid for investigations that uncovered some of the allegations against Nygård.
Bacon is not affiliated with the series in any way, according to a spokeswoman for “Unseamly.”
The Finnish-born executive has been accused by dozens of women of varying degrees of criminal behavior including rape and sexual assault. Some of those alleged incidents were said to have occurred when a few of the accusers were minors. They were said to have occurred at Nygård-owned properties in the U.S., Canada and in the Bahamas over a 25-year period.
The “Unseamly” spokeswoman said a card will be added at the end of the fourth episode regarding the status of the bail hearing.
This is not the first time that Nygård has been profiled in a documentary series. He has been featured in “The Fifth Estate.”
The Discovery+ series seems to underplay Nygård’s success referring to him as “the fashion mogul you’ve never heard of.” At its height, Nygård’s sportswear business was a $500 million operation. In an interview with WWD in 2002, he said that was the result of a fluke and somebody else’s bad luck.
Nygård stepped down from his company in February 2020, and his company was placed in receivership last year. One point of debate in the bail hearing is the potential for Nygård to access company assets. After being arrested at the request of U.S. officials, he was deemed a potential flight risk.
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