DiCello Levitt represents dozens of sex trafficking victims against the disgraced Peter Nygard.

On June 11, 2020, Jane Does No. 1-57 filed their Second Amended Complaint against Peter Nygard and his network of privately-owned companies, alleging a sprawling international sex trafficking venture with hundreds of survivors and dozens of enablers. Since that filing, more than 125 women have come forward detailing their abuse at the hands of Nygard and his associates.

Just six months after DiCello Levitt filed this historic case, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Nygard, charging him with racketeering, sex trafficking, and related crimes against dozens of victims in several countries, resulting in his immediate arrest and the raid of multiple Nygard properties. The DOJ alleges that Nygard and his co-conspirators, including Nygard Group employees, used force, fraud, and coercion to cause women and minors to have sex with Nygard. Further, many of his victims came from disadvantaged economic backgrounds or had a history of abuse, and he maintained control over the victims with threats, false promises of modeling opportunities, constant surveillance, and physical isolation.

In some instances, Nygard forcibly sexually assaulted his victims. At other times, Nygard’s associates assaulted or drugged women and girls to ensure compliance with his sexual demands. When anyone accused Nygard of sexual assault or sex trafficking, he threatened the witnesses with arrest and reputational harm or paid them for false statements and affidavits.

“I don’t think there’s been anything so widespread, something so developed and sophisticated in terms of the infrastructure that was put toward it,” Greg Gutzler, the civil plaintiffs’ lead counsel, told Dateline NBC in its report, The Secrets of Nygard Cay. “The scale, the depth, the level of people involved—there’s simply no comparison.”