Recordings Submitted as Evidence Prove Nygard Did Not Commit Acts Alleged
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD Affidavit Nygard-Toggiestatement
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New York, NY–March 15, 2016–Peter Nygard’s attorneys have provided new evidence to authorities in the Bahamas that, together with evidence presented in the March 9 lawsuit filed in the Bahamas, could demonstrate that Louis Bacon, Bahamas Senator and FNM Chairman Michael Pintard and witnesses supporting the lawsuit involved in the scheme to implicate Mr. Nygard, have committed crimes. They say these crimes could include counselling to commit murder, suborning perjury, perjury, arson, attempted murder and uttering threats.
Accordingly, Mr. Nygard’s lawyers said they will be formally asking authorities to pursue criminal charges against these individuals.
The tape recordings submitted as evidence in the March 9 lawsuit also prove that Mr. Nygard was not involved in a murder plot supposedly aimed at Save the Bays Director Fred Smith and Louis Bacon or anyone else, as alleged in the lawsuit filed by Mr. Bacon and others.
Further, the recordings offer no credible evidence that Mr. Nygard was involved in any other crimes or plots alleged in that complaint, the lawyers said.
The new evidence includes sworn statements provided to Mr. Nygard’s lawyers by the two convicted criminals, Wisler “Bobo” Davilma and Livingston “Toggie” Bullard, who are Mr. Bacon’s key witnesses in the March 9 claim. In their statements the witnesses say they were told they would be paid for providing evidence to Mr. Bacon’s operatives, whether true or not. They say they asked for $3 million for their false testimony and were provided an initial payment of $50,000 cash. Messrs. Davilma and Bullard also say in their sworn statements that Bahamas Senator and FNM Chairman Michael Pintard was present at a Feb. 19, 2015 meeting at the Hilton Hotel where the payoff was made. Other evidence includes a transcript of a tape recording made by Messrs. Davilma and Bullard of that meeting.
Mr. Nygard’s attorneys have since learned that Messrs. Davilma and Bullard were paid $3 million and could have been paid as much as $5 million to provide false evidence against Mr. Nygard, based upon bank records and information from confidential informants.
The statements and tape recording given to Mr. Nygard by the two criminals help prove that allegations made in the March 9 lawsuit are fabricated. The lawsuit was filed against Mr. Nygard and attorney Keod Smith in the Supreme Court of The Bahamas by Save The Bays Directors Joseph Darville, Romauld Ferreira, Fred Smith, Mr. Bacon and Rev. C.B. Moss.
“The thrust of this thinly veiled publicity stunt, disguised as a lawsuit, focuses on a fictitious murder plot supposedly aimed at Fred Smith and Louis Bacon because of their opposition through Save The Bays to development plans at Nygard Cay,” a Nygard spokesperson said. “But the evidence presented in the complaint, particularly the video recordings of Mr. Nygard and the two criminals, refute that Mr. Nygard had anything to do with such a plot or any of the other crimes alleged in the complaint.”
What is more, the evidence presented to authorities in sworn statements by the two primary witnesses in the March 9 lawsuit show that their testimony was perjured and paid for by Mr. Bacon’s operatives.
In March 2015, Messrs. Davilma and Bullard provided sworn statements under penalty of perjury to Mr. Nygard after two initial meetings the previous month with operatives for Mr. Bacon. In these statements, never publicly disclosed until now, entitled “In the matter of: Attempt by Louis Bacon and His Representatives To Obtain False Evidence from Livingston Bullard Jr. and Wisler Davilma Implicating Peter John Nygard In Carrying Out Criminal Or Otherwise Illegal Activities in The Bahamas,” Messrs. Davilma and Bullard explained the following:
The investigators for Mr. Bacon, who referred to themselves as retired FBI agents, agreed to pay them for providing incriminating evidence against Mr. Nygard — whether it was true or not;
They would be paid by Mr. Bacon’s operatives once they provided the false evidence;
They asked Mr. Bacon’s operatives for $3 million;
They received an initial $50,000 of Bahamian cash, in $50s, in a Scotia Bank envelope from Mr. Bacon’s investigators at the meeting on February 19, 2015 at the Hilton Hotel in Nassau, Bahamas;
Senator Pintard orchestrated the meeting at the Hilton and was in attendance when the cash exchange occurred; the first meeting with the two criminals and Mr. Pintard was held a week earlier on February 12 at the offices of former FNM Senator John Bostwick, who was in attendance.
One of the retired FBI investigators asked if the two criminals could make up names for a hit list and held up a piece of paper with two names on it while putting his finger on his lips to indicate he didn’t want any discussion about it.
Messrs. Bullard and Davilma recorded the February 19 meeting with Mr. Bacon’s investigators and Mr. Pintard and provided the recording to Mr. Nygard’s attorneys. Mr. Nygard’s lawyers have a transcript of the recording.
“Soon after their initial meetings on February 12 and 19, 2015 with Mr. Bacon’s private investigators, Senator Pintard and former Senator John Bostwick — during which this group hatched their plan to entrap Mr. Nygard — Messrs. Davilma and Bullard approached Mr. Nygard and told him they were asked to give false testimony against him. On March 14, 2015, Messrs. Davilma and Bullard provided Mr. Nygard’s attorneys with sworn statements concerning these February 2015 meetings with Mr. Bacon’s investigators and Pintard and Bostwick,” said the Nygard spokesperson. “Subsequently, the two criminals joined with Mr. Bacon and his operatives to entrap Mr. Nygard by secretly recording conversations with him and providing statements with false testimony. Then after that, in recent months, Messrs. Davilma and Bullard told Mr. Nygard that if he paid them millions of dollars they would recant the sworn statements they gave to Mr. Bacon and say they were lies. Mr. Nygard’s attorneys told Messrs. Davilma and Bullard that Mr. Nygard would not pay them any money, nor would he participate in any fraud on the court.”
Despite the substantial sums Mr. Bacon and others paid Messrs. Bullard and Davilma to entrap Mr. Nygard, the tapes of Mr. Nygard interacting with Messrs. Bullard and Davilma—the supposed fruit of this entrapment–offer no evidence of wrongdoing by Mr. Nygard whatsoever and no evidence of Mr. Nygard requesting, agreeing to or in any way condoning violence aimed at Mr. Bacon or anyone else. In fact, the evidence filed last week by Mr. Bacon and Mr. Smith supposedly in support of the legal proceedings actually refutes the very existence of any murder plot.
“I can’t, I can’t get into killing. I mean, I never broke the law in my life and I don’t intend on starting right now” is how Mr. Nygard responded to suggestions by the two criminals that they kill Mr. Bacon, according to the transcript of a video recording of a meeting on June 18, 2015 between Mr. Nygard, Mr. Davilma and Mr. Bullard that is an exhibit in the filing.
“Mr. Nygard’s lawyers are preparing to file a criminal complaint with authorities against Mr. Bacon, his lawyers, his investigators and the two criminals as well as others involved in this campaign to smear his reputation,” the Nygard spokesman said. “The charges would include counselling to commit murder, given that the two criminals, on behalf of the investigators acting on the instructions of the lawyers and Mr. Bacon, tried to get Mr. Nygard to instruct them or someone else to kill Mr. Bacon.
“The complaint would also allege suborning perjury against Mr. Bacon and his investigators. Mr. Bacon’s investigators obtained copies of the transcript and affidavits taken in Canada and sworn to by Mr. Davilma and Mr. Bullard. Therefore, they knew that the two criminals were lying to them when they took sworn statements from them about being paid for the protest and other matters. We will be moving to strike Mr. Bacon’s recent statement of claim against Mr. Nygard and Keod Smith as frivolous, vexatious and scandalous.”
“This is yet another attempt by Mr. Bacon to destroy Mr. Nygard’s reputation, drive the current PLP he supports from office and get the opposing FNM party supported by Mr. Bacon elected so that Mr. Nygard is prevented from obtaining the permit he need to rebuild Nygard Cay,” said the spokesperson.
