Be sure to read the story Snow Fall, by John Branch.
Another excellent written piece by the same author.
There are many reasons we have to close the wealth gap in developed nations. One of them is when people have this much disposable income they often exploit poor women for their pleasure. Tragic.
5
From the NYT dories about Nygard at least we know Jessica Alba had a moral compass. Describing a party with underage girls naked in hot tubs a “gross”. What an understatement. What about the rest of the guests? Perhaps most lacked any moral compass.
1
Just finished "Catch and Kill." The stories just keep coming. I thought the churches were bad, but rich and/or powerful men keep popping up everywhere who are as bad, and more determined with the coverup.
23 years isn't long enough (for HW or any of them). Life meaning life, in maximum security.
2
Terrific reporting! Thanks!
5
Huge kudos to Ms. Barker, her colleagues and the Times for their courageous and tenacious pursuit this story. This is an example of why journalism is important. Thank you.
15
In the late 90s, when I had my office on Bay Street, downtown Toronto, Peter Nygard once came by to discuss a business idea.
The man spent the first hour plus talking about what an amazing human being he was. Never met anyone so full of themselves.
I used to visit the Bahamas fairly often back then and rumor had it he hired his own "paparazzi" photographers to follow him so people would be more intrigued by him.
The people I knew in the islands had gone to a few parties at his place and for those who came for the first time a video would be played, before you would enter the party, about "the great" man himself.
Stories about (very) young girls at his place and settlements to families were making the rounds even back then.
21
A great article. Thank you!
2
Peter Nygard is the Canadian Jeffery Epstein
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Awesome reporting! Here's hoping that Mr. Nygård is put on trial to answer for his crimes against women. What a strange character — strong echoes of Jeffrey Epstein. Oh & "he disguised me as 'LaKim LaBarker,' a pseudonym that seemed like poor tradecraft." Good one!
9
I used to walk past Nygard's space in New York daily and wonder what it was a front for, because it was so obviously out of touch, not credible as fashion and the sort of thing that someone pretending to be something they were not would create.
15
Forty years is a long time, but Nygard was already seducing young poor girls then with his wealth and charm. And that's a fact.
10
Tip of the hat to Kim Barker, Catherine Porter, and Grace Ashford, the fearless team who brought this story to light. I salute your courage.
49
Obviously , I do not support this type of behavior . Full consent by adult partners - at EVERY step of any romantic or sensual encounter is ALWAYS required by law and moral codes .
But this ' Article ' seems incomplete and has a lot of hearsay and little proof or evidence .
I applaud the bravery of the reporters ....but the above criticisms still stand .
6
@Robert :
Please read original article published earlier by the NYTimes.
11
@Robert Romance Robert? Oh My.
6
Great journalism, pure and simple.
9
Sounds like a nice guy. Though he is "Canadian" seems would fit nicely into Jeff Epstein old digs.
That big ex-cop is still there, right?
9
There are a suspicious number of commenters on here that claim not to understand that point of this article, or that claim to find it hard to read or confusing. It's surprising, really, given that the intent of the article is clear and I found the writing very easy to follow. I probably spend too much time looking at nytimes comments, but usually there isn't such a lack of skill in reader comprehension on display. Are the comments another part of the weird circumstances described by the author?
45
What also bothers me is that Dillard's the department store that has a huge contract to carry his products is till selling them, despite the current climate of the Me Too movement. They should have cancelled his contract a long time ago when these allegations first surfaced and customers should boycott his products.
38
Great argument for eliminating billionaires.
28
Nygard is in his late 70's? He will never get the justice he deserves. He will either have his lawyers stretch it out till he dies, or he will run for President.
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@John
Unfortunately he can't run for president. He is Canadian
It's important to remember that people who are far from rich also have insanely spiteful neighbour disputes. So tedious!
People around them fuel the drama with fiction and embellishments. It's human nature.
Since these guys are super wealthy that adds a profit motive since they both throw money around to solve their problems and people in the right position get a cash splash; the bystanders are motivated to keep the hysterics going.
There is, sadly, also a long history of rich men treating everyone around them as their possessions and that has always run strongly towards using poor people as sex toys.
I hate rich people.
5
@Alan
You can't just demonize wealthy people. There are many wealthy people who involve themselves in philanthropic endeavors such as Bill & Melinda Gates.
13
@Be Bop Billionaires tend to buy good press and tax breaks through philanthropic activities.
7
@Be Bop On the subject of billionaire philanthropy, I recommend reading "Winners Take All : the Elite Charade of Changing the World" by Anand Giridharadas".
4
Well Done. Some factual info is better than none at all!
6
Kim Barker is heroic.
11
So when's it going to Netflix?
2
Probably not too long. The whole Epstein mess just made Netflix-documentary history; Nygard’s story will likely not be far behind...
1
Thank you for the work you both are doing. #Metoo is more than just about Hollywood. It’s a movement that began a decade before for girls just like these victims of exploitation.
11
This is a very complicated and convoluted double story to cover and I applaud your tenacity with such a difficult assignment. Keep digging. I personally know that Mr. Smith truly feared for his life and had been accosted.
9
Well done. Should have been a front page story. Shows the ways and means the ultra-affluent use to maintain their criminal enterprises. And make no mistake, Nygard's serial rape and sexual assault of girls and women over decades was a criminal enterprise. His money shielded him from accountability, apparently in multiple jurisdictions. Pulitzer-worthy reporting.
26
Come to Winnipeg, Manitoba - the Canadian home of Nygard’s operations and speak to some our women and locals who worked for him over the years. His reputation and conduct with models, employees and women has swirled under the surface of social and business conversations for decades. All previous local and national reports of anything he does - never mind allegedly inappropriate conduct - have been beaten back successfully by his ultra-aggressive lawsuits. To my point, he’ll sue you if you publish a photo of him in a public space. I grew up hearing about his alleged behaviour, and in college training for jobs in media we were taught directly about the perils of publishing his name or likeness. Now the NYT has opened the door to the graveyard, and Winnipeggers are asking you to keep digging.
83
Appreciate the investigation into this icko, but would have preferred a more cohesive article to navigate.
6
@Victoria
It's an article about how an article came to be.
4
Thanks for the details; who should drive the policy follow-up?
Nygard is an amateur. The sophistication of the Sultan of Brunei and his ilk make the enablers of Harvey Weinstein look like children.
Key to all these people is suppressing the stories. The rich are only getting richer, so what's the solution?
Anonymous tip lines should enable people to tell their stories. Police can find corroboration, and the tipsters can get a reward if the perpetrator is successfully prosecuted, all without being identified.
Jurisdiction can be granted to the perp's country even if the acts were elsewhere, to avoid the corrupting influence of forum shopping for crimes.
The rich need to know: there's no hiding or suppressing information about their crimes. Whatever you do, someone will find out. So coercion cannot protect you.
And never should someone be prevented from speaking, as some princesses are now. That should be prima facie evidence of kidnapping.
16
If those complaining about this piece had read the original reporting first, they would not be so confused. This is an “insider” story about previous news, not straight reporting. As such, the language and tone was less formal. The fact that it was an unusual assignment is reinforced through the language used here. Complaints about opacity only reveal a lack of vision.
12
Agreed. Unfortunately I can’t unsee the image of Nygard and another passenger on his private jet, from the first article, while a pole dancer does what’s she’s paid to do. Who does that? Nygard plays by different rules and norms than the rest of us.
7
Great work! You are fearless, thank you!
9
Enormously monied people have their own set of laws. That is a very good reason to tax them at the old rate of 91% which we had in the 1960's in this country.
21
@rocky vermont : Check a little closer, probably nobody ever paid the 91% on income. After all the loopholes were used some paid nothing, just as they do now!
2
Thank you for the investigation and for this article. It is important for people to know the hard work that goes into finding the truth. We need to support good journalism so that money won’t buy silence.
17
Where is Jason Bourne when you need him!
8
Thanks for doing this work!
25
I believe the reporter, but that is not evidence. Obviously rich people are difficult to prosecute, especially if they live off shore in seemingly corrupt communities.
As an earlier post pointed out, Mr Nygard has only been scrutinized because he and his neighbor have gone to war over more personal matters.
I gather no criminal charges will stick to Mr Nygard, but the article is the stuff of information the average citizen needs to know. The divide between rich and poor is a chasm.
Thanks.
18
Other than report on an investigative report that appears to have gone nowhere -- either because of poor pre-reporting research (really, you learned about this person's supposed clout or his battle with another person with equal clout only once you got to the Bahamas?) or because there was less-than-a-there-there -- was there the point to this article?
34
@Whatever Who are you working for?
21
@Whatever It's a start. This article will get picked up on and spread, and then it will be easier to move forward.
6
@Whatever The first paragraph reads as follows:"Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together." It is a companion piece to two or three other articles about Peter Nygard, explaining some of their reporting.
20
Admirable research & reporting KIM, stick with it!
67
Good job. Keep it up.
46
"Bacon's money helped fuel the investigation in the Bahamas". Good grief..Justice in america has just become pay to play.. It really is quite revolting - the girls being prostituted who don't cross a point zero 1% property lines - can we hear about them? Bacon is a good example of how money buys image, as his 'environmentalist' rep is a ridiculous canard, yet the only way Nygards possibly serious criminality is exposed is because Bacon wants his driveway to be uncluttered..Sickening..
31
@grace thorsen, umm, I don’t understand your comment “Justice in america “. The events alleged took place in the Bahamas and Nygard is Canadian.
9
Uh, the Bahamas are not America.
8
"Media organizations with fewer resources might have given up. But The Times let us continue to dig."
thank goodness reporting like this is still supported...
187
These two journalists need to be in the Witness Protection program.
35
So many wealthy men who have been able to sexually abuse others, particularly young women and girls, for decades without consequence. Remarkable reporting and a glimpse into how these men are able to continue their predatory behavior. The rampant use of non-disclosure agreements in settlements with employees and others who speak up allow these men to continue their behavior with no legal or public consequences -- and apparently their legal teams aren't bothered by their significant role in supporting the predators. Sickening.
141
Good work! Keep us all posted.
40
Thank you and the NYT for the commitment to reporting the truth, in the face of great difficulties.
57
Kim left me up in the air. Was there a legal procedure that would follow?. What has Canada done to secure justice for the victims?.
19
@Hal
This article is background for an full article that recently appeared in the NYT. This is a companion piece, like a forward or epilogue, not the main story.
2
Articles like this are why I'm happy to support the times. It sounds like this creep is going to be brought to justice, or at the very least disgraced--or he wouldn't have been trying to silence the investigation so much.
It's so important to have media that's (primarily) paid for by subscribers rather than governments or advertisers.
62
What happened to clear writing? Someone writes, "A man with a spoofed phone number (which hid his actual location and number) called my dad, looking for me." Next, someone writes, "No one ever called my dad looking for me." Which is true? One can argue that readers' duty is not hard, to figure out cute writing. Is not a newspaper supposed to figure out? Not hard.
50
@MAX L SPENCER
The second line was intended to underscore the unusual nature of the first line - as in: someone called my dad looking for me; highly unusual because no one ever calls my dad looking for me." The implication being that someone is trying to track the writer down by calling family members. Not that hard to understand.
35
@MAX L SPENCER, it was pretty clear to me that the writer's intent was to say that (1) during this investigation, her father was called from a spoofed phone number by someone looking for the writer and (2) her father does not, as a matter of course, ever receive calls from people looking for her, making the spoofed call even more suspect. But agreed that it could have been clearer. Next sentence should have been "No one ever *calls* my dad looking for me."
19
@MAX L SPENCER
Wow, that's your only complaint? I thought the two sentences were quite clear & rendered in a conversational tone that was in keeping with the twists & turns of the story itself. As for "cute writing" I leave tht for you to explain.
23
Thank you for your continued effort to expose Mr. Nygard's past.
If you have time and money, you might want to go to Winnipeg where some of his early victims resided. Legal cases were brought forward, but due to witness intimidation never proceeded. Word got around as some of the women went to sexual assault centers and it was soon all over the local feminist grapevine. I have continued to follow this perpetrator's activities, nearly gagged whenever I came across one of his fashion labels and fervently hope he is charged and convicted before he dies.
129
@moodygirl and others
Reporter Ryan Thorpe, of the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper, is doing an excellent job of reporting on Nygard's activities in the Bahamas and in his "home" province of Manitoba, including the city of Winnipeg and falcon Lake, where Mr. Nygard had/has another "pleasure palace".
21
@moodygirl
Winnipeg, and the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting System) are rich sources of allegations against Nygard, and his efforts to shut inquiries down.
17
@moodygirl : I wonder if Mr.Nygard has to look over his shoulder these days......I'm sure someone is keeping an eye on him, wherever he resides. Lots of crazy "vigilantes" on the roam.
6
I've read through this odd article twice and am unclear about what it offers or why it was published in this strange form. For example:
"One source would talk to me only in a car; as he drove us through a wooded area, he said, worryingly: “Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you.” People recorded our conversations without telling us. A man with a spoofed phone number (which hid his actual location and number) called my dad, looking for me. No one ever called my dad looking for me."
What does that paragraph mean?
Whatever the intent, this is sloppy work.
92
@John Briggs and MAX L SPENCER
WILLIMANTIC, CT March 6: Kim Barker missed the lesson on the past perfect tense. She meant "No one had ever called my dad looking for me [before]."
13
@John Briggs Not at all. She is simply and accurately describing a surreal environment not of her creation, into which she was submersed. Given the personalities involved, its not surprising this reads like a bizarre screenplay. Have you watched The Staircase, or Jinxed? Human life forms take many shapes...and oftentimes comprehending them makes one’s head hurt.
27
@John Briggs -
What's confusing? It seems very clear.
She is describing the subterfuge and paranoia that was part of their investigation. One would wonder why a reader cannot understand the paragraph, rather than be confused with the writing itself.
20