Louis Bacon Wins Defamation Case Against Ex-Fashion Mogul Nygard

(Bloomberg) -- Billionaire hedge fund founder Louis Bacon won his decade-old court claim that the Finnish-Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard defamed him by saying the financier was a murderer, drug trafficker, arsonist, insider trader and member of the Ku Klux Klan.

“Mr. Nygard failed to provide any evidence whether the statements made by Mr. Nygard had any truth,” Richard G. Latin, a state court judge in Manhattan, wrote in a decision on Monday resolving the issue in Bacon’s favor.

The ruling is the latest turn in a bitter, years-long feud between the two men, formerly next-door neighbors in the Bahamas’ exclusive Lyford Cay community, involving more than a dozen suits in New York, London and the Bahamas. In the defamation suit, Bacon claimed that Nygard and his companies orchestrated a smear campaign of “outrageous lies” in online videos and public statements.

Peter Sverd, who represents Nygard in the defamation case, said his client is “disappointed in the ruling” and plans to appeal.

Nygard, 84, is serving an 11-year prison sentence in Canada for sexual assault. He faces additional charges in Canada and a US indictment in New York for racketeering and sex trafficking. 

US prosecutors claim Nygard used the resources of his company, Nygard International Partnership, to help him control women through the use of surveillance and physical restraint. Nygard hosted “pamper parties” in California and in the Bahamas, where guests were plied with food, drinks and spa treatments, according the indictment.

A court-appointed referee awarded Bacon, 69, $203 million in damages against Nygard in 2023, citing “overwhelming” evidence of a “deliberate plan by Nygard to personally and professionally destroy Bacon.” That award was reversed on appeal the following year when an appeals court ruled that Nygard hadn’t properly been served court papers while in prison.

Judge Latin is likely to set a hearing to determine the amount of damages due to Bacon.

In his ruling, Latin found Nygard liable for a type of defamation which includes false statements accusing someone of a serious crime or that injure the person in his business or profession. As a result, Bacon will not have to prove specific damage to his reputation or business to win a money judgment.

The case is Bacon v. Nygard, 150400/2015, NY State Supreme Court, New York County (Manhattan).

--With assistance from Chris Dolmetsch.

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