A Bahamian court allowed the sale of a wharf in downtown Nassau, Bahamas, linked to disgraced fashion mogul Peter Nygard last year, amid a protracted legal battle over who actually owns the property.
A request for an injunction that would have blocked the sale of the Union Wharf property in the heart of the Caribbean capital was shot down by a Bahamian Supreme Court justice, according to a written decision issued in October 2024.
The injunction was filed by Carlton Martin, one of three Bahamian lawyers who formerly represented Nygard and launched lawsuits against the former fashion company owner over unpaid fees. Their lawsuit came following his arrest in Winnipeg in December 2020 on a U.S. indictment over sex trafficking, racketeering and related charges.
The decision says a previous judgment determined Nygard owed Martin what would be about $1.9 million Cdn, with the current conversion rate, plus interest.
The wharf had a projected purchase price of about $16.4 million Cdn. Martin initially argued he should take control of any sale to ensure he gets the money he’s owed, saying proceeds would likely be moved outside the Bahamas once a deal was done, preventing him from getting the money.
The wharf’s listed owner is not Nygard, but an entity named Galaxy Group Ltd., which the decision says was fully owned by the Nygard Foundation, a registered charity in Barbados that specialized in stem cell research.
Union Wharf is on the northeast coast of the New Providence island of the Bahamas. Nygard Cay, Peter Nygard’s luxurious estate, was on a gated community on the opposite end of the island. His initial 2020 U.S. charges allege “a decades-long pattern of criminal conduct involving at least dozens of victims” in the Bahamas, as well as the U.S. and Canada.
Martin said the sale of Union Wharf should be stopped until he can prove Nygard is the actual owner of the property.
Nygard himself previously called for and successfully blocked the sale of the wharf while suing the foundation and a Bahamian law firm in 2022, arguing he was the owner of the property.
That lawsuit was eventually dismissed and the injunction dropped, after Nygard failed to provide money for damages in case the courts ruled against him.
A judge instead ordered him to pay damages after the defendants successfully argued the order led to the collapse of a sale, according to a Bahamian Supreme Court decision from 2023.
In the October 2024 decision allowing the sale, the new buyer was identified as Buena Vista Properties Nassau Ltd., which is listed as an offshore entity in the Bahamas corporate registry. It was first registered in January 2024. The name of the actual owner is not listed on the records.
In her Oct. 8, 2024, decision, Justice Simone Fitzcharles described a sale as imminent.
A U.S.-based real estate broker showed the property as available on its website as of Tuesday, with a listed price of about $14.9 million (the site does not indicate what currency prices are listed in, and it’s not clear when the property listing was posted).
Justice Fitzcharles allowed the sale to proceed, but said Galaxy Group should retain the money Martin is owed in case the lawyer proves Nygard owns the property.
“If Mr. Martin fails to prove that Mr. Nygard owns the property, Galaxy will be able to keep the fund retained from the sale thereof, and Mr. Martin will have to seek his fortunes elsewhere,” her decision said.
A decision by the Bahamas Court of Appeal from late October 2024 only increased the amount the entity is supposed to set aside. The new figure is about $4.8 million Cdn.
Nygard, now 84 years old, was found guilty by an Ontario court in November 2023 of four counts of sexual assault, in incidents dating from the 1980s until the mid-2000s involving three women who were in their 20s at the time and another who was 16.
He was sentenced to 11 years in prison, and remains in custody in Ontario.
He’s also facing a charge in Manitoba over allegations he unlawfully confined and sexually assaulted a woman at his Winnipeg warehouse apartment in 1993, and is facing a trial in Montreal on one count of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement, in incidents that allegedly took place between November 1997 and November 1998.
As well, he still faces extradition to the U.S. on his sex trafficking and racketeering charges in New York, once his Canadian charges are dealt with.
Nygard has denied all the allegations against him, and is appealing his convictions and sentence in Ontario. He has also requested a stay of proceedings on the Winnipeg charges, arguing police failed to retain records related to the allegations against him.
