Andrew linked to second ‘predator’
Britain’s Prince Andrew faces renewed scrutiny over his judgment, with a fashion tycoon at whose Caribbean mansion he stayed being accused of luring girls as young as 14 to the property, where they were drugged and raped.
The allegations against Peter Nygard are strikingly similar to those against the late American financier Jeffrey Epstein, a friend of the prince, which led to Andrew stepping back from his royal duties.
Nygard, 77, and his companies have been accused in a civil claim brought by 10 women of operating a sex trafficking ring to transport young victims to his mansion in the Bahamas, where they endured depraved abuse.
The Duke of York visited the mansion with his former wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, in 2000, shortly after Nygard had settled cases of sexual harassment against three women out of court in Canada.
Nygard has also been photographed with the duke’s daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.
Although there is no suggestion that Andrew was involved in any impropriety, his decision to maintain contact with Nygard will draw comparisons with his continuing relationship with Epstein after the financier was jailed in 2008 for procuring an underage girl for prostitution in Florida.
Epstein killed himself in prison last August after being charged with new offences, and the duke withdrew from his royal duties following a disastrous TV interview.
Andrew was accused by United States prosecutors last month of providing ‘‘zero’’ co-operation regarding the investigation into Epstein.
A legal complaint filed against Nygard in New York claims that his mansion was used to promote his clothing brand, with parties attended by celebrities and politicians including Oprah Winfrey, former US president George H W Bush, and actors Robert De Niro and Sean Connery.
The Canadian tycoon is also accused of organising ‘‘pamper parties’’, to which ‘‘impressionable and often impoverished children and women’’ were lured between 2008 and 2015 with cash and fake promises of modelling opportunities. Victims of the sex trafficking scheme were violently assaulted, the lawsuit says.
Nygard is also accused of keeping three to four fulltime sex workers with him at all times. They are allegedly forced to accompany him on tours around the world on his company’s private jet.
In June 2011, a 14-year-old girl who had entered the Miss Teen Bahamas Galaxy beauty pageant claimed that she was invited with her mother to attend one of the ‘‘pamper parties’’ at the Mayan-themed estate. She claimed she was drugged and raped by Nygard at one of the parties, but continued to attend the events and eventually became an international model for his clothing brand.
Nygard is also accused of bribing politicians and police on the Bahamas.
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman declined yesterday to comment about the legal claim against Nygard or the duke’s relationship with him.
Nygard’s spokesman told the New York Post that the allegations were ‘‘completely false, without foundation and are vigorously denied’’.