Fashion designer will be no-show for jail sentence

Peter Nygard says he is too ill to travel to Bahamas

Peter Nygard, the flamboyant Canadian fashion tycoon, has been sentenced to 90 days in jail and stiff financial penalties in the Bahamas over a long-running dispute about environmental degradation at his lavish seafront resort.

But Nygard remains in Canada, beyond the immediate reach of Bahamian authorities, and he has told the Supreme Court of the Bahamas he is too ill to travel.

He has also instructed lawyers in the Bahamas to file an urgent appeal of the new decision, which includes a $5,000-per-day penalty for failing to comply with its orders, including a “fully written apology to the Court,” according to his Winnipeg lawyer, Jay Prober.

“The decision is unfair, it’s unreasonable and it’s unnecessary, and quite frankly it’s unheard of,” Prober said in an interview. “I have never seen in civil contempt proceedings a jail sentence or a fine of that magnitude.”

If Nygard fails to pay the US$150,000 fine within a week, the jail sentence increases by a month, according to the Nov. 15 ruling by Judge Ruth M.L. BoweDarville.

Nygard’s Bahamian lawyers will be asking for a stay so they can argue an appeal before Nygard is forced to comply, Prober said.

The ruling relates to a contempt finding against Nygard over his use of improperly obtained emails that were the subject of an injunction earlier this year in New York, and for failing to appear in court to answer contempt findings.

But those issues are mere details in the broader controversy, an epic battle with the government of the Bahamas and his neighbours over his construction activities on the spit of land on the western tip of New Providence known as Nygard Cay. Nygard is alleged to have illegally dredged the sea floor and expanded the size of his property with illegal construction on Crown land.