Peter Nygard will be extradited to the United States to be indicted there after the criminal charges he faces in Canada are resolved, Federal Justice Minister David Lametti announced Tuesday.
Nygard has been awaiting the minister’s decision since last autumn, when he agreed to circumvent the court’s extradition process and go directly to ministerial control of the federal justice minister.
On the same day that Nygard gave his consent to the ministerial review of his extradition case, Toronto police arrested him on charges of sexual assault and imprisonment related to incidents allegedly taking place in the city from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s. ‘erne.
“It is important that our Canadian legal process is completed so that all parties, including victims, have the opportunity to see justice served,” Lametti said in a tweet.
Nygard, 80, is the former head of a multi-million dollar clothing company. He has been in custody since December 2020, when he was arrested in a house in Winnipeg under the Extradition Act after being charged with nine sex-related offenses in New York.
He was denied bail by Toronto prosecutors in January. The Toronto case is scheduled to return to court on March 30.
Nygard has denied all charges against him.
Brian Greenspan, Nygard’s attorney, said last fall that even though his client agreed to go ahead with the extradition process, he maintains his innocence.