Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Chairman Fred Mitchell claimed that the sex trafficking lawsuit against Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard is a setup and it was manipulated by Lyford Cay billionaire Louis Bacon.
Yesterday, Mitchell responded to an article published in the New York Times which seeks to prove that the lawsuit is a part of a campaign associated with Bacon, who dislikes Nygard, and has clashed with him for years.
The article also revealed that women were paid to lie about being raped by Nygard.
“In our view, the particular article in The Times comes as close as we have seen to objective reporting. It is clear from that article that this is a fight in the nature of a vendetta between two billionaires in Lyford Cay. The Progressive Liberal Party and The Bahamas is simply collateral damage in this wider dispute,” Mitchell said.
“It is also clear that the lawsuit and the attempt to conflate political donations to the PLP is part of an orchestrated campaign by monies provided through companies associated with Louis Bacon, the Lyford Cay billionaire who dislikes Mr. Nygard.”
According to Mitchell, the article confirms the involvement of attorney Fred Smith, QC and also confirms that millions of dollars were funnelled toward manipulating various accusations against the PLP in an attempt to get at Nygard.
“Here are some of the sums listed in the Times article that funded the manipulation of the present lawsuit: $1.5 million dirty tricks campaign, $6 million Texas Security Firm, $60,000 for yearly rent in Nassau gated community for young woman who coached potential witnesses and claimants, $500 per week to same person, $2,000 per month to another young woman who ensured witnesses were paid something for talking to investigators, dollars to former FBI and Scotland Yard et al on Bacon’s investigations team,” Mitchell pointed out.
The article also indicates that $150 to $350 was paid to two sister claimants who dropped their involvement when the money stopped.
“The article indicates they were coached to make the statements and once the funding stopped, they recanted their statements,” Mitchell said, adding that $9,000 Cartier jewelry was given to a witness immediately after giving a story.
According to the New York Times, for more than a year, Marvinique Smith and her sister, Marrinique, were central to the developing lawsuit.
“They told their stories repeatedly to lawyers, investigators and the Bahamian police. Marvinique said she was invited to a pamper party in 2010, when she was 15. There, she said, Mr. Nygard talked to her about modeling and had sex with her. Her sister recounted a horrific tale: Mr. Nygard had raped her as cartoons played on TV. She said she was 10,” the New York Times article explained.
But in October, The New York Times said the sisters told the newspaper’s reporters a very different story.
The sisters told the New York Times that “they had never been assaulted by Mr. Nygard. They had never even met him.”
They claimed that Richette Ross, former massage therapist at Nygard Cay, had “paid them to make everything up,” the article said.
“Marvinique Smith said Ms. Ross suggested she might collect as much as a half-million dollars in a settlement, and then could give Ms. Ross a cut,” the article added.
“She coached them on Mr. Nygard’s pickup lines, bedroom layout and sexual proclivities, the sisters said. Meanwhile, she gave them cash — $150 here, $350 there — for every meeting, they said.
“Ms. Smith said she confessed to lying because Ms. Ross, who was dating her boyfriend’s father, stopped paying her. She and her sister felt guilty and scared. ‘I couldn’t do it anymore,’ Ms. Smith said, adding, ‘There might be girls that it actually happened to, but it didn’t happen to me and my sister.’”
However, Mitchell said the lawsuit has also been used to smear the PLP.
According to Mitchell, this matter came first to the attention of the House of Assembly when a whistleblower connected with the “phony” environmental group Save The Bays revealed to the PLP that approximately $8 million was funnelled through that organization to destabilize the PLP as opposed to them confining themselves to their charitable objectives.
“The work of the Times journalists tends to confirm that pattern of conduct. The article also says that the coaching affects the credibility of the allegations,” Mitchell said.
“The article confirms that there is no connection between any politician and the trafficking allegations.
“The issue tied to the money is that this is how wealthy foreign money distorts information and manipulates vulnerable Bahamians during election campaigning.
“The FNM may have the means to compete with this level of funding, but the PLP does not; and it is dangerous. It is a corrupting destructive influence on the Bahamian people and our democracy.”
Mitchell also explained that the PLP has heard the narrative of how Nygard’s allegations look bad on The Bahamas’ reputation and the narrative about concerns for victims.
“However, no one of account in government or any media house has sought to generate a commitment to safeguarding the Rule of Law in our campaign process,” he said.
“We have also not seen a commitment to safeguarding the Rule of Law through the work of NGOs in The Bahamas or through investigative journalism that has the integrity and vigour to put a check on the putrid work of social media propaganda by those with the money to overwhelm a small, vulnerable and largely young public.
“It is interesting that the fanfare around the original story written as an attack on the PLP by The Tribune is not repeated when the truth comes out in the New York Times article.
“One of the local press has called for a Commission of Inquiry into the allegations in the writ. The PLP does not believe there is any need for such a commission. What is needed is a commission to investigate Save The Bays, Fred Smith, QC, and the monies supplied by the Bacon interests and whether or not Save The Bays acted within the confines of its charitable mandate.”
