Disgraced former fashion mogul Peter Nygard found guilty of sexual assault

Disgraced Canadian fashion executive Peter Nygard was found guilty Sunday of sexually molesting four women in a secret bedroom suite inside his Canada offices.

Nygard, 82, who wore a black parka in court, displayed no emotion as the jury convicted him on four counts of sexual assault in the sick attacks on victims as young as 16 over a span of more than two decades in Toronto, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

The creepy designer, who still faces criminal and civil cases in New York and elsewhere in Canada, was convicted largely on the testimony of his accusers at the six-week trial, the report said.

“This is a crime that typically happens in private and profoundly impacts human dignity,” prosecutor Neville Golwalla said after the verdict.

“To stand up and recount those indignities in a public forum such as a courtroom is never easy and takes great courage,” Golwalla said. “Everyone who came forward here is to be commended.”

Nygard was acquitted of a fifth sexual assault charge and one count of forcible confinement. Five other sex assault counts were dismissed prior to the five days of jury deliberations that ended with Sunday’s verdict.

Nygard was accused of using his wealth and influence to lure his victims into the top-floor bedroom complex, where he cornered them and sexually assaulted them, prosecutors said.

The teen victim claimed she was raped in front of others, while another accuser said Nygard paid her $100.

During the trial, two of the accusers testified that the designer gave them a tour of his offices that ended inside his bedroom suite, and described a mirrored door that led into the room.

Once inside, they discovered there was no handle on the door so they couldn’t leave.

The businessman, who spent five days on the witness stand during the trial, denied the allegations and claimed he didn’t even remember four of the five women he was accused of sexually assaulting.

His lawyer, Brian Greenspan, claimed the prosecution’s case was peppered with “fatal flaws,” and questioned the credibility of his client’s accusers.

“What never occurred were the sexual assaults described by each of the complainants,” he told jurors.

The jury didn’t agree.

“It was not an easy case,” Golwalla told reporters outside the courthouse.

“To hear the jury’s verdict is to understand that they worked very hard at coming to the result,” he said. “And certainly we feel that a just result was what the jury came up with at the end.”

The verdict is just the start of the legal challenges facing the controversial clothing designer, who also faces sexual assault and forcible confinement charges in Manitoba and Quebec.

He’s also fighting extradition to the US, where he is facing charges in the Big Apple that include sex trafficking, conspiracy to commit racketeering and transportation of a minor for the purpose of prostitution.

In addition, Nygard is also named in a class action lawsuit in New York filed on behalf of 57 women who claim they were molested as far back as 1977 — some when they were just 14 and 15 years old.

Outside the courthouse Sunday, the designer’s son, Kai Nygard, who previously spoke out against his father, reflected on the verdict.

“I loved my father,” he told reporters. “It hurts me to see all of these things. I knew a different man. I got a different version of him and for me, that bond was real, those moments were real.

“Something evil in there,” he added. “There’s something perverse.”