A New York judge has awarded billionaire hedge fund founder Louis Bacon more than $203 million in damages at the end of a bitter defamation case against his former Bahamian neighbor, Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard.
The award, a record for a defamation case in New York state, reflected the damning and “truly astounding” nature of the evidence, wrote Layn Phillips, the former federal judge appointed by the state supreme court as special arbiter in the case.
The feud began more than a decade ago with the two men butting heads over issues ranging from raucous parties at Nygard’s Robinson Crusoe-themed property in the upscale Clifton Bay community of Lyford Cay, to whether Bacon had thwarted the redevelopment plans of Nygard after a fire.
The court order stated that Nygard had been waging a global smear campaign for nearly a decade, falsely claiming that Bacon was a member of the Ku Klux Klan; that he was guilty of inside trading; that he was implicated in the death of an employee; and that he was implicated in arson.
“Each of these would have been a significant attack on his character; the combination of all four portrayed him as an evildoer of the first order,” concluded Phillips, describing the campaign as “a deliberate plan by Nygard to personally and professionally destroy Bacon.”
The amount of the award, which is the subject of appeal, partly reflects the fees accumulated over the years of litigation. In addition to $50 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages, it includes more than $53 million to cover Bacon’s attorney and other mitigation costs to date.
Nygard, the founder of women’s fashion company Nygard International, is in prison in Canada awaiting trial on sexual assault charges in Toronto and Montreal. He has also been accused in the United States of racketeering and sex trafficking. She has previously denied the allegations against him.
His businesses are bankrupt, so it’s unclear how much of the prize Bacon will receive. Nygard spent $15 million spreading what he knew were falsehoods, the court said, which concluded that she had acted “out of hatred, ill will, spite and malice.”
What the court called Nygard’s “total effort” to destroy Bacon had caused the founder of Moore Capital Management “a personal humiliation [and] mental anguish,” he noted. His children had been afraid to sleep in their beds and he had cut back on “normal activities that give him pleasure, such as attending charity events and visiting his home in the Bahamas, lest he face persistent allegations “.
A spokesman for Bacon said Nygard paid more than two dozen people to spread hundreds of false statements “through every medium imaginable,” including YouTube videos, newspapers, pamphlets and demonstrations.
“With this verdict, Mr. Bacon is cleared of the vicious lies and disgusting smear campaign against him, and Mr. Nygard has finally been held accountable for at least some of his actions,” the spokesman said.
A lawyer for Nygard had no immediate comment.
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