Accused sex offender Peter Nygard requests phone access 11 hours a day behind bars
Nygard ordered to pay nearly $60K to Ontario lawyer for unpaid legal fees related to improving jail conditions
Former fashion mogul and accused sex offender Peter Nygard wants more phone privileges in a Toronto jail to deal with his legal troubles ranging from receivership to extradition and charges of sexual assault.
The request was revealed in a court document related to his companies' receivership proceedings.
The affidavit said Nygard finds it difficult to receive information and discuss it over the phone. He told his lawyers that it's easier and quicker for him to understand documents when he reads them — which he does over the screen during video conferencing.
"His vision is deteriorating, he has difficulty seeing which makes it more difficult for him to read, and this also slows his reading," wrote Nygard company lawyer Wayne Onchulenko in the affidavit.
Nygard has been in custody since his arrest in Winnipeg on Dec. 14, 2020. He spent nearly a year at Headingley Correctional Centre before being transferred to Toronto South Detention Centre in October 2021.
WATCH | Nygard requests more phone privileges in Toronto jail:
Nygard is charged with sexual assault and forcible confinement in Toronto and Montreal. His Toronto trial is set to begin Sept. 11. No date has been set for the Montreal hearings.
Once the Canadian court cases wrap up, Nygard will be extradited to the U.S. to face a number of criminal charges there. He is currently appealing the extradition order and has a hearing on April 26.
Phone time was increased in 2021
Onchulenko said the two ways the lawyers are able to communicate with their client is by phone or through video conferencing.
"When we first became involved, Mr. Nygard's communication with lawyers was limited to a lawyer calling TSDC and then determining if Mr. Nygard was available to come to the phone," wrote Onchulenko.
"Through negotiations between September and the end of December 2021, we were able to increase his telephone access to approximately four hours a day between 9:30 and 1:30 p.m."
He said Nygard was initially only allowed 20 minutes a day for video conferencing but that "through negotiations that has been incrementally increased." Onchulenko said that since January 2022, Nygard has been receiving 50 minutes on weekdays and 100 minutes per day on the weekend.
"We are continuing to try to increase his phone time and [video conferencing] time to the equivalent amount of time that he received at the [Headingley] which was 11 hours of phone time per day and two hours of [video conferencing] time per weekday and three hours per weekend day," wrote Onchulenko.
Nine Nygard companies have been under court-appointed receivership since March 18, 2020. Nygard owns two of the companies: Nygard Enterprises Ltd. and Nygard Properties Ltd.
An October 2022 letter from Onchulenko to the receiver attached to receivership documents said Nygard's lawyers "have been in the process of putting together an application to court to have the court order an increased amount of access to his phone and [video conferencing] to the equivalent of what he obtained at [Headingley] because on numerous occasions he has not been able to fully receive advice and give instructions."
It's not known if that application was filed or if Nygard received the 11 hours a day of phone access he wants.
'If he can get it, then why can't others': Lawyer
Zilla Jones, Winnipeg defence lawyer and board chair of the John Howard Society, said on the face of it, Nygard appears to be getting special treatment.
"Time is limited on the phone and on video for all the inmates. And for one person to have outside their share means others get less," Jones said in an interview.
"I'm not saying that he shouldn't necessarily get 11 hours, but if he can get it, then why can't others," she asked.
Jones doesn't know how or why Nygard has been granted additional time to talk to his lawyers. She said it may have something to do with the fact he is facing two criminal trials, an extradition and his companies are in receivership.
Still, she believes all inmates, no matter what their financial means are, should have the same opportunities and access.
"They should all be treated humanely and fairly.… It should not depend on who you are. It should not depend on your income. It shouldn't depend on who your lawyer is, how you pay them, how much you're in the news," said Jones.
Legal bill unpaid: court documents
A London, Ont., lawyer said Nygard owes him nearly $60,000 in unpaid legal bills.
Jeffrey Hartman successfully sued Nygard for damages for breach of contract in June 2022. In a statement of claim filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, he said Nygard contacted him in March 2021 while he was detained at Headingley Correctional Centre in Manitoba. Nygard hired him a week later "to improve his confinement conditions."
The court documents say Nygard paid an initial retainer and subsequent retainers until Sept. 23, 2021. After that, he continued to use Hartman's services and made "various assurances" that he would be paid.
"In particular, Mr. Nygard stated repeatedly that he had furnished a Florida lawyer with a direction to pay Mr. Hartman a further retainer of $200,000 from the sale of a Bahamas property known as Nygard Cay which was subject to a local judicial proceeding," said the statement of claim.
Hartman said Nygard assured him he would be paid once his home in the Bahamas was sold. In May 2022, he learned the sale had gone through and the proceeds were held in trust so Hartman phoned Nygard's Florida lawyer who told him "the direction to pay never existed and that Mr. Nygard specifically instructed him not to pay Mr. Hartman."
The court filings say Nygard owed Hartman $56,856.91 but refused to pay.
"Mr. Nygard repeatedly represented to Mr. Hartman that his fee was protected generally and by the aforementioned direction to pay in particular when he knew these statements were false and/or was reckless as to the truth," said the statement of claim.
"Mr. Nygard made these representations with the intention of inducing Mr. Hartman to continue providing legal services to Mr. Nygard without payment," wrote Hartman.
Nygard didn't file a statement of defence and on Aug. 9, 2022, a judge sided with Hartman and ordered him to pay the outstanding bill plus $5,000 in court costs.
Hartman declined an interview with CBC News but in an email said "the full amount remains outstanding to date and Mr. Nygard has given me no reason to expect voluntary satisfaction of the debt."
He wouldn't say what work he did for Nygard or if he was responsible for getting the 81-year-old special accommodations in prison due to solicitor-client privilege.
Nygard companies appeal decision on legal fees
In August 2022 Manitoba Court of King's Bench Justice James Edmond rejected a motion made by the Nygard companies to allow proceeds from the receivership to pay Nygard's legal fees connected to his criminal cases.
The Nygard companies are appealing that decision. The appeal is scheduled for April 19.
In documents filed in April 2022, the Nygard companies said "as submitted before the court, it is the position of NPL [Nygard Properties Ltd.] that because Peter Nygard is the ultimate owner of NPL, it is in NPL's best interests that Peter Nygard be acquitted."
They are also appealing a consolidation order made by the judge ordering all Nygard companies to be responsible for each other's debts.
"NPL and NEL [Nygard Enterprises Ltd.] should not have been subject to a consolidation order. NPL is asset rich … depending on the accounting, it may have millions in cash to its credit," said an April 1, 2022, supplemental motion brief filed by the Nygard companies.
They also said that by selling off property belonging to NPL, the receiver created tax obligations which the receiver has not paid.
"By selling NPL's properties, the receiver has paid off the lenders and created an NPL creditor in CRA [Canada Revenue Agency]," said the brief.
The attorney general of Canada on behalf of the CRA filed a motion brief regarding Nygard's legal fees in October 2022.
"In CRA's view, the receiver is correct to be concerned about the potential that some of the legal fees, disbursements and professional costs, being sought in respect of Mr. Nygard relate to his personal interests and affairs," the October 2022 attorney general brief said.
The brief said of particular concern is that Greg Fenske is receiving $6,500 a month from the preserved proceeds of the receivership to serve as the sole director of NPL and NEL. His job is mainly to instruct counsel. Fenske was a Nygard company executive and was accused in a civil lawsuit of being a Nygard enabler.
"The prospect of creditors, in a sense, financing fees incurred by Mr. Nygard on account of his desire to be engaged in the proceeding and by Mr. Fenske in similarly consulting with and advising counsel on the same matters, does not seem reasonable given its impact on creditors," said the attorney general's brief.
Court documents filed by the Nygard companies in June 2022 say real estate that was sold off brought in $28.5 million in proceeds.
"A total of approximately $66 million derived from the property of the respondents was paid by the receiver to the lenders, which satisfied them in full," said a June 2022 factum filed by the Nygard companies to support their appeal.
It said after paying the lenders, the receiver had about $12.8 million left over, and $9.9 million after the payment of receivership expenses.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
