Disgraced fashion designer Peter Nygard was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Monday. The sentencing comes after a jury found him guilty of four sexual assault convictions last year."Peter Nygard is a sexual predator," said Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Goldstein. "He is also a Canadian success story gone very wrong."The Crown had asked for Nygard to be sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, his lawyer Gerri Wiebe requested a 6-year sentence instead.With credit for time already served, Nygard has just under seven years left to serve.Nygard was convicted by a jury last November of attacking three women and a 16-year-old girl in his former Toronto headquarters between the 1980s and 2005. Nygard's sentencing hearing was delayed multiple times as he went through multiple lawyers. When the judge was ready to sentence Nygard on August 2, the Crown asked to postpone the sentencing for another month so a prosecutor who was out of the country could attend.In court, Nygard's victims described the lasting trauma from the sexual assaults. The trauma included anxiety, depression, panic attacks, ruined careers, and trouble with intimate relationships. One woman even had thoughts of suicide. A publication ban protects Nygard’s victims identities."Mr. Nygard used his wealth, his privilege, his resources, and his reputation in the fashion business and industry to his advantage,” said prosecutor Neville Golwalla.“This pattern should be understood for what it is. Simply put: Predatory."Nygard has been in custody at the Toronto South Detention Centre since his arrest in October 2021. Nygard’s lawyer Elain Wiebe argued that Nygard would be worse off in a federal prison, which she said lacks proper support for older prisoners with health issues. Nygard has several medical problems including Type 2 diabetes, an enlarged prostate, claustrophobia, light sensitivity, and allergies. “The goal from my perspective is to have Mr. Nygard in the provincial system,” said Wiebe in July. “It’s the devil that he knows.”In addition to these charges, Nygard still faces sexual assault charges in Montreal, Winnipeg, and New York. The Finland-born, Winnipeg-raised founder of Nygard International was once Canada's largest manufacturer of women's clothing.
