The receiver accountable for 9 Nygard firms will seem in entrance of a Manitoba Courtroom of Queen’s Bench decide subsequent Friday, searching for approval to finalize the sale of a 22,000-square-foot property on Broadway belonging to Nygard Properties Ltd.
The constructing on the property was constructed in 1950 and served as a Nygard vogue retail retailer till final yr.
In a Jan. 18 discover of movement, Richter Advisory Group mentioned the Broadway property was listed for slightly below $2.5 million in April, however the value was decreased to $2.35 million in August after no gives had been acquired.
The receiver mentioned it has been in negotiations with 7456302 Manitoba Ltd., which runs Whole Flooring, for months and is now ready to current a proposal for courtroom approval.
That is the fourth and remaining Nygard property to be bought below the receivership. Richter beforehand bought Nygard firm headquarters in Toronto, and a property on Notre Dame Avenue.
The Nygard Group of firms owed $50 million to collectors, together with almost $30 million to American lender White Oak Business Finance, when it was positioned below receivership in March by Manitoba Courtroom of Queen’s Bench Justice James Edmond.
Final November, Edmond permitted the sale of 1771 Inkster Blvd. and set Jan. 18, 2021, because the deadline. The Nygard Group tried to dam the sale and regain management of the 2 remaining properties.
They argued White Oak had been paid in full and requested the decide to finish the receivership. The case ended up within the Manitoba Courtroom of Enchantment which sided with the receiver and permitted the Inkster sale. It is now set to shut Feb. 8. If permitted, the Broadway sale would shut Feb, 15.
A decide permitted the sale of the Inkster property in November. The deal closes in February. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)
Peter Nygard, who in courtroom filings says he’s a marketing consultant for the Nygard Group and sole proprietor of Nygard Enterprises Ltd., has been indicted on 9 fees within the U.S. for allegations he sexually assaulted girls and women over a 25-year interval in Canada, the U.S. and the Bahamas.
Nygard stays in custody on the Headingley Correctional Centre awaiting extradition to the U.S. He’ll seem in bail courtroom Jan 28.
Nygard has persistently denied the allegations and says they’re fabrications as a part of a conspiracy to malign his popularity.
In an affidavit filed in Manitoba’s Courtroom of Queen’s Bench on Dec. 14, 2020, Sgt. Stefane Nicolas of the RCMP’s federal critical and arranged crime unit mentioned American authorities offered this undated photograph of Peter Nygard together with a replica of an arrest warrant issued by the U.S. District Courtroom. (Manitoba Courtroom of Queen’s Bench)
Retaining information
In its tenth report back to the courtroom, Richter mentioned all through the course of the receivership the Nygard Group vacated retail shops, warehouses and workplaces, and that it assisted Nygard staff to pack up and ship onsite information — together with pc arduous drives and servers, again to the Inkster property. The receiver mentioned the information have been consolidated in additional than 5,000 bins saved at Inkster or Broadway, and can now should be moved elsewhere earlier than the brand new house owners take over the properties.
“The debtors didn’t keep an in depth catalogue or repository system to trace and determine bodily information … however slightly used a localized system of common or high-level descriptions,” mentioned Richter within the tenth report back to the courtroom.
The receiver mentioned Nygard staff proceed to compile a common itemizing of the bodily information to assist perceive the sorts of info contained within the paperwork.
Richter mentioned it entered right into a six-month lease on behalf of Nygard Worldwide Partnership to accommodate the information in Winnipeg. The lease expires on the finish of June, however could be renewed for an additional six months. The lease is about $2,350 a month.
Ransomware assault
The receiver mentioned the complete scope of a ransomware assault final month on Nygard IT methods and the diploma to which the affected information and packages could be restored remains to be not totally identified.
Richter mentioned Nygard IT employees had been working with a 3rd get together marketing consultant employed to protect digital information once they had been hit with a ransomware assault on Dec. 12.
“A message from the attackers suggested, amongst different issues, that the IT system had been hacked and system information encrypted,” wrote Richter.
The receiver mentioned the attackers initially requested for a ransom of 99 bitcoins however elevated it to 198 bitcoins to decrypt and get better the information.
“Fee of the ‘ransom fee’ was not thought-about by the receiver,” wrote Richter.
The receiver mentioned regardless of its greatest efforts, the IT system has been completely compromised because of the assault, and that it is now specializing in restoring high-priority servers solely. Richter mentioned there are almost 250 severs inside the Nygard Group.
