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This is a CBC Podcast.
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The following episode contains difficult subject matter and references to
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sexual assault. Please take care. It's 10 o'clock at night
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in March of 2009 and I'm working late in my
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home office in Winnipeg. At this point, we are only
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a few months into our research on the Peter Nygaard story.
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As I turn out the lights, I notice something strange.
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A car is sitting outside of my house It's headlights
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reflecting off the snowbanks that have piled up on my
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street from a long prairie winter. It's idling, and a
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man is just sitting in the front seat. While I wait,
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I tap out an email to a colleague. Not to
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sound too paranoid, I write, but there's been a vehicle
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outside my house with someone in it for at least
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half an hour, and perhaps longer. Adding to my paranoia,
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I was supposed to meet with two Nygaard whistleblowers that
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same evening, but had to reschedule. The next day, I
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see the same dirty grey sedan outside my house. This
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time I take photos from a distance. On the third day,
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it's there again. I've had enough. I walk up to
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the car and knock on the window. The driver confirms
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he's a private investigator working in the area, but he
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quickly assures me he isn't watching my house. That's funny,
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since I don't tell him which house is mine. I
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don't see him again after that, But it was just
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the beginning of a series of bizarre happenings and the
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taste of the kind of fight Peter Nygaard would put
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up against the CBC. Surveillance, threats, private investigators, and lawsuits.
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In the end, because of our reporting, my colleagues and
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I would find ourselves facing criminal charges and a potential
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five years in prison. I'm Timothy Sawa, and this is
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Evil by Design. Episode 6, Peter Says Hi. This is
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the story of how my colleagues and I at the
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CBC came to investigate Peter Nygaard and the roadblocks we
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faced along the way. I'm telling you this because it
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fits a pattern of how Nygaard deals with the journalists
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who investigate him. And it helps us answer the question,
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Why did it take so long for the allegations about
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him to come to light? Like many big stories, this
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one started with a tip.
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All right.
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So when I emailed you and said, are you up
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for another interview? What went through your mind?
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Why not? It's something I'm able to talk about probably
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more openly than ever.
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That tip.
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Came from longtime Winnipegger and former Nygaard HR manager, Dana Neal,
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more than a decade ago.
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I didn't have a choice. I mean, what was I
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going to do? Just turn a blind eye and carry
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on and just let these things happen? Let him abuse
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and victimize people? I started having kind of an existential dilemma.
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As somebody who recruits people and gets them into jobs,
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you know, I have sort of a code of ethics
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where in that I don't want to just hire somebody
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just to check a box or anything like that. People
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will spend more time sometimes with their colleagues than they
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will with their families. And so I've always endeavored to
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make people's lives better in that recruiting transaction. And it
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didn't feel like that anymore. I felt like I was
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actually hurting people.
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Dana was hired at Nygaard in
Load full transcript
2006. He spent the
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next two years working in the HR department. It didn't
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take long before he realized there was a problem.
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I think it was the turnover that happened with some
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of the travel coordinators. They would just leave the office
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one day and then just not come back. Just completely
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drop off the face of the earth. Then I started
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hearing stories about his management style. when things really started
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to get revealed was when I started traveling to the
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world headquarters in New York. And then that's when I
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experienced firsthand the screaming, the yelling, the verbal abuse. And
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then that's when I really started to think, okay, what
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am I doing here?
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What about on the sexual harassment side of things or
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just sexually inappropriate behavior? Was there stuff in that category?
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Sure. I mean, there's the incident that I witnessed that
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I talked about in the original doc about the woman
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whose breasts he exposed to me and put his hand
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down her pants into her crotch.
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Dana told us that Nygaard said he'd been taking care
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of this woman since she was 17 years old.
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There was a woman in particular, who I won't name,
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who worked in marketing and events. And she literally quit
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because she was going to be sent back to the Bahamas.
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And she just couldn't do it because he just stalked
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her and just did all kinds of things to her.
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So there's, yeah, there's a lot there, Timothy. I could
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go on.
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But well before any of this could make it to
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air in 2010, Peter Nygaard would launch his first legal assault.
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Post Me Too, many of you will be familiar with NDAs,
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or non-disclosure agreements. They're gagging clauses in employment contracts, exit documents,
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or settlement agreements. NDAs were a key tool used by
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Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, and former Fox News chairman Roger
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Ailes to shield their predatory and illegal behavior from the public.
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When he started working for Nygaard, Dana Neal signed the
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same kind of confidentiality agreement. So years later, when we
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were first investigating Nygaard, his lawyers threatened in a suit.
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If Dana talked, he and the CBC would pay.
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I knew it would be a ride. I knew he
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loved to sue and he loved to litigate and We
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were talking. It sounded like you guys were prepared for
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that too. I just felt like I didn't have a choice.
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Like I had to do it. And confidentiality was irrelevant
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because when people are being put in harm's way and
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when harm is being done, I mean, there's not a
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confidentiality agreement in the world that should be applicable in
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those situations.
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That lawsuit would be our first legal battle with Peter Nygaard,
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his first overt attempt to shut us down. but it
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wouldn't be the last. It's a sunny afternoon in June
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and my family van is being lifted up on a
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hoist in a commercial garage in Winnipeg. Two men begin
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searching the undercarriage for a GPS tracking device. Again, this
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might sound paranoid, but a strange pattern had emerged in
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our investigation. as I contacted or met with sources, usually
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former Nygaard employees. Shortly after, we would receive emails supposedly
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from them, recanting much of what they'd told us about Nygaard,
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and instead praising their former boss and his business acumen.
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These emails all had the same style, and we suspected
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they'd been written by the same person. Then the original whistleblowers,
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Dana Neal, and his colleague in HR at Nygaard, Pat Prowse,
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experienced something strange.
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Things got really weird. Middle of the night, somebody is
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trying to smash their way in through the front door
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and their shoulder is hitting the doorbell. Incidentally, they broke
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it and I still haven't fixed it. And so I
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went out the patio door in the backyard and I
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had a bat and I went around the side of
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the house and I just pointed it at him and
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then just gestured for him like, Get lost. And then
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he asked me, do you know Peter Nygaard? And then
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I was just dumbfounded. I was just struck. And then
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he just jumped off the steps and ran away. And
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that happened after Pat got jumped when he was going
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home from having some drinks with some friends. And yeah,
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he got jumped. And before they ran away, one of
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them said to him, Peter says hi.
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On more than one occasion, I had to remind myself
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of that expression. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they
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aren't after you. Nygaard's people always seemed to know what
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we were going to do before we did it. While
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we didn't find anything on my vehicle, one day I
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got a clue that might explain some of the coincidences.
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I was having a phone meeting with colleagues about the
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Nygaard story when I was put on hold. After about
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five minutes, a computerized voice came on and asked if
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I wanted to keep recording the call. The strange part,
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neither I nor anyone else on the call was recording.
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Was someone tapping my cell phone? I'll never know for sure.
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But I'll also never forget that ominous voice saying someone
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was listening in. The next phase of our investigation involved
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going to the Bahamas. The CBC didn't want me traveling
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there without support. So we found someone with deep connections
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on the island to help.
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Well, I was an FBI agent for 30 years. I
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always told people they could write a book about me.
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A lot of exciting cases. Worked undercover for two, three years.
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Caught a lot of fugitives. Was in one shootout, got shot.
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Jerry Forrester is retired from the FBI now and working
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as a private investigator specializing in the Caribbean. He's tall,
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with bright white hair and a Magnum PI mustache to match.
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So I worked the Bahamas. I worked Bermuda, Turks and Caicos.
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I worked Cayman Islands. So I was continually traveling. And
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I had a caseload of probably 100, 150 cases a month.
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Wow.
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A little difficult.
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I can imagine you were busy, but also I can
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also imagine that's a pretty great job to have with
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the FBI.
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It was the best job in the FBI. If I
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wasn't mandatory, I'd still be there.
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He was already well acquainted with Peter Nygaard before we
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hired him in 2010.
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I met him when he wanted to see me. I
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went down to his house after I retired. And, of course,
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I knew a little bit about him, so I brought
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my assistant with me. As a witness, if anything did occur,
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I'm not saying anything would have occurred. So we had
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a nice dinner and talked a little bit, and he
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wanted to hire me. And I said, no, I can't
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do that. I already have a job.
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What did he want to hire you for?
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I guess I was head of the security.
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I guess.
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I don't know. I didn't even entertain him. It wasn't
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even on my mind. He could have paid me a
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million dollars a year. I wouldn't have taken him.
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Why is that?
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Well, his reputation.
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Jerry met me at the airport in the Bahamas. Over
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the next several days, we scoured the main island, meeting
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and talking to as many people as we could. Eventually,
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my reporting colleague, Bob McEwen, joined me.
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It was the most tempestuous story I've ever done.
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That's saying something. I know you've worked on a few stories.
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Yeah, and I was thinking also about this. Is it
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the one that's lasted longest? Because it started in the
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middle of 2009, and here we are in the middle
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of 2020.
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Bob has traveled the world as a journalist, with the CBC,
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then as a correspondent for CBS News, where he covered
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the first Gulf War, and eventually as a host for
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NBC's Dateline. In 2002, he came back home to Canada
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to return as co-host for the CBC's investigative TV show,
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The Fifth Estate.
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The story of Peter Nygaard has been the most intense
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story I've been involved with and, unusually, more and more
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intense and pressurized as it's gone along. So I think
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the past year has been... We've been under more pressure
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on this story than any other time in its gestation.
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And as we continued to dig, one name in particular
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kept coming up.
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Maribel.
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She had been one of the, quote, packages, unquote, invited
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to Nygaard Key, his house in the Bahamas, for what
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he called pamper parties. And she had been controversial because
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we were told by a number of people that at
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some point when she was there, she had... an episode
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of some sort. She was emotional. She was frightened. She
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was looking for people to help her. She wanted to
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go home, which was in the Dominican Republic. There was
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some debate about whether she was 16 or 17. At
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that point, we wanted to try to find her. This
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was several years later, because she was an example of
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what people said happened, that young girls got lured to
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Peter Nygaard's estate, and... Some of them may have been
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sexually abused.
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We tried for months to find Maribel. But the Dominican
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Republic had a population of almost 10 million people. And
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even her full name was just too common. We finally
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reached out to Peter Nygaard's lawyers and asked about her.
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That's when something strange happened. I got an alert. A
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few days after we sent that letter... we found out
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that Peter Nygaard's private plane had taken off, and it
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was headed to, where else? The Dominican Republic. We knew
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this because when someone owns a private airplane registered with
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the FAA, they have to file a flight plan every
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time they travel. And if you know where to look,
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those flight plans are public. We were going to need
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someone on the ground quickly, and I knew just who
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to call.
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You called me. Then you asked me if I could
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get somebody to get to that plane and do a
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little surveillance on who's on it and what is occurring.
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If I remember right, the plane landed. My investigators were there.
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The plane sat there for quite a while with a
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lady standing at the door. And finally, I believe she
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left and was followed by my people. and went to
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a bar or a restaurant, and my people observed them
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talking and discussing things, and it was that girl. And
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the girl that was on the plane, I don't know
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who she was, she had a sheet of paper, a
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bunch of paper that the girl read, and I think
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she handed her a pen and she signed it, and
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that's when they left.
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So a woman flying in Nygaard's private plane travels to
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the Dominican Republic. She meets with another young woman who
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Jerry's investigators identify as Maribel, the same woman I'd been
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searching for for months, and hands her some papers to sign.
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Not long after that, we received a sworn affidavit from
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Nygaard's lawyers, signed by Maribel. In it, Maribel describes her
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first visit to Nygaard Key as pleasant and fun. Nygaard,
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she says, was a perfect gentleman. At this point, we
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were only a day away from airing our story, when
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I got a voicemail from Nygaard's lawyer.
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That's a proper calling.
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I hope you're having a good evening. It's Thursday, April
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8th at about 5 to 9. I'm calling about Nygaard.
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I'm now representing him with respect to one aspect of
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allegation number one.
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Allegation number one was what we named Maribel's story in
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our letter to Peter Nygaard.
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And that's the issue of potential prosecution for defamatory libel
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under the criminal code. We
have evidence, apparently, that the
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girl in question says that there was nothing improper about
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Nygaard's behavior. Apparently, CBC didn't interview this woman, so I
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don't know if they're going with that aspect of the
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00:18:07.809 --> 00:18:10.609
story tomorrow night or not, but I can tell you
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that I'm putting your clients on notice that Sawa and
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any others may be liable to prosecution for defamatory libel,
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either at the instance of the Attorney General or privately.
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Thanks.
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Take care.
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Bye-bye.
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Defamatory libel under the criminal code? I did some late-night research.
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00:18:33.220 --> 00:18:37.200
Criminal libel is a rare but real charge in Canada. Usually,
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if someone feels they've been defamed in the media, they
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00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:42.900
launch a civil suit. But there is an option for
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00:18:42.940 --> 00:18:46.359
them to pursue criminal charges if they believe another person
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00:18:46.380 --> 00:18:49.890
has published defamatory information knowing it to be false.
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The kicker?
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A charge like this can be made privately, without police involvement.
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In other words, someone with money to burn, like Peter Nygaard,
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00:19:00.009 --> 00:19:03.789
can hire a lawyer and file the charge themselves. And
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we'd be forced to defend ourselves in criminal court. It
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00:19:07.930 --> 00:19:12.730
carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Here
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00:19:12.769 --> 00:19:15.589
was our dilemma. On one hand, we had a signed
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00:19:15.630 --> 00:19:17.990
statement from Maribel saying nothing had happened to her at
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Nygaard Key. On the other, we had three sources who
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said something did.
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I remember we were just on the verge of going
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to air in April 2010. And I think at that
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00:19:34.390 --> 00:19:39.630
point we'd been sued already multiple times. I remember you
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00:19:39.650 --> 00:19:41.690
and I looking at each other and saying, we'd better
316
00:19:41.769 --> 00:19:45.039
talk this over somewhere else just to get our heads clear.
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And we went to that pub and we sat down.
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And the question was, it's still not too late. We
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00:19:52.529 --> 00:19:56.289
can still get out of this if for any reason
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we think that that's the wise course. Didn't take long, frankly,
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00:20:01.170 --> 00:20:03.190
to decide it wasn't the right course, that we had
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00:20:03.250 --> 00:20:08.170
come too far, that legally, journalistically, ethically, we were on
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firm ground. And we went back and committed ourselves to it.
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I remember we had one last drink and we toasted
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00:20:15.609 --> 00:20:18.650
to our good fortune and said that we hoped we
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00:20:18.690 --> 00:20:22.529
wouldn't be there three years later in the middle of
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00:20:22.589 --> 00:20:27.500
a legal morass and still involved with the Nygaard story. Well,
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00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:33.599
it's not three years, Tim. It's 11.
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00:20:35.380 --> 00:20:38.390
We went ahead with the story about Maribel. including an
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interview with two former employees describing what they witnessed.
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She just panicked and just started screaming and crying and
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she ran out and she actually ended up finding us, right?
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And she sat right next to me and she just,
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tears were rolling down. I said, put my arm around her,
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I said, what's wrong? And she says, I have to
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get out of here. And I came to talk to you,
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00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:04.200
I think, and only place I knew, I knew a
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00:21:04.220 --> 00:21:05.880
place where to hide her, where nobody would look.
339
00:21:07.630 --> 00:21:09.980
And Peter Nygaard followed through with his threat.
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00:21:11.400 --> 00:21:17.819
Months later, we received summonses and legal documents from the
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Attorney General of Manitoba informing us that we were being
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00:21:21.859 --> 00:21:24.740
criminally charged under the Criminal Code of Canada.
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00:21:27.480 --> 00:21:30.640
Bob McEwen and another Fifth Estate producer, Morris Karp, and
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00:21:30.839 --> 00:21:34.329
I were all facing charges. But we weren't the only
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00:21:34.410 --> 00:21:37.029
ones paying a personal price for taking on Peter Nygaard.
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00:21:38.069 --> 00:21:41.589
After our story came out, he sued whistleblowers Patrick Prowse
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00:21:41.849 --> 00:21:45.630
and Dana Neal again in civil court. They would spend
348
00:21:45.730 --> 00:21:50.829
tens of thousands defending themselves. So looking back at all
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00:21:50.869 --> 00:21:55.230
of this, 12 years since you did this, was it
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00:21:55.250 --> 00:21:55.559
worth it?
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00:21:56.710 --> 00:21:59.650
Yeah, I mean, it just feels like the clock is ticking.
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00:22:01.130 --> 00:22:02.269
And what about the price you paid?
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00:22:02.289 --> 00:22:06.769
I didn't have a choice. What else could I do?
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00:22:07.230 --> 00:22:07.609
Ignore it?
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Walk away from it.
356
00:22:10.390 --> 00:22:10.890
Others have.
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00:22:12.289
Oh, yeah.
358
00:22:12.910 --> 00:22:16.869
Absolutely. Or they dip their toe in the water and
359
00:22:16.910 --> 00:22:19.690
then it was way too cold or too hot and
360
00:22:19.750 --> 00:22:25.609
backed off. But, yeah, I was just– didn't have a choice.
361
00:22:28.509 --> 00:22:31.490
I'm glad you guys have pursued– I have a question
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00:22:31.509 --> 00:22:35.710
for you. If there hadn't been like this just crazy
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00:22:35.730 --> 00:22:39.519
amount of lawsuits and litigation and everything– Would you guys
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00:22:39.539 --> 00:22:41.980
have continued to investigate this like you have?
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00:22:44.359 --> 00:22:46.599
It's hard to know, I guess, isn't it? I mean,
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00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:49.819
they do become a motivating factor at a certain point,
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don't they? I mean, if there was nothing there, why
368
00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:56.000
fight back so hard?
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00:22:56.019 --> 00:22:59.000
Because I think you told me that you guys had
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00:22:59.059 --> 00:23:01.329
never seen anything like this before, dealt with anything like
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00:23:01.349 --> 00:23:01.809
this before.
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00:23:02.619 --> 00:23:03.569
Not before or since.
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Not before or since. Well, that's good to hear.
374
00:23:06.309 --> 00:23:06.470
Yeah.
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It's the only time I've been criminally charged for doing
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00:23:11.420 --> 00:23:17.779
my job. Before we go any further, I want to
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00:23:17.819 --> 00:23:21.240
take a moment to point out something important. Nothing that
378
00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:23.920
I nor any other journalist went through in covering Peter
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00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:27.880
Nygaard will ever compare to the violence and trauma experienced
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00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:31.460
by the women and girls he's accused of raping. The
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00:23:31.500 --> 00:23:34.319
strength and bravery they showed in coming forward to expose
382
00:23:34.359 --> 00:23:39.430
him is unmatched. But in answering the question, Why did
383
00:23:39.470 --> 00:23:41.299
it take so long for the truth to come out?
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00:23:42.119 --> 00:23:44.519
It's important to look at how far Nygaard went to
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00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:49.460
stop the journalists who tried to investigate him. In our situation,
386
00:23:49.500 --> 00:23:52.099
we knew the statement by Maribel would be used against
387
00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:55.640
us in the criminal case. But it wasn't until later
388
00:23:55.660 --> 00:23:59.220
that we realized Peter Nygaard's charges against us would involve
389
00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:04.759
a second element. A three-month-long undercover investigation into us.
390
00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:18.519
Early morning on a Manhattan sidewalk, a shooting caught on
391
00:24:18.539 --> 00:24:24.220
surveillance video. It was an assassination-style killing, and everybody saw it. Now,
392
00:24:24.660 --> 00:24:27.559
as Luigi Mangione prepares to stand trial for the murder
393
00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:31.880
of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, which he denies, a new
394
00:24:31.960 --> 00:24:36.329
podcast series from ABC Audio and 2020 goes inside this
395
00:24:36.420 --> 00:24:41.990
captivating case. I'm ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmeyer. Listen
396
00:24:42.049 --> 00:24:46.240
to Burden of Proof, Luigi Mangione, wherever you get your podcasts.
397
00:24:50.119 --> 00:24:55.519
We've waited long enough. Monzo, a new era of banking.
398
00:25:12.930 --> 00:25:15.569
Monzo Bank Europe DAC, trading as Monzo, is regulated by
399
00:25:15.589 --> 00:25:17.470
the Central Bank of Ireland, T's and C's apply.
400
00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:25.440
Nygaard's use of the courts to protect his reputation is legendary.
401
00:25:26.380 --> 00:25:28.980
He sued or used the courts to threaten the Winnipeg
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00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:32.920
Free Press, a Finnish newspaper, Toronto Life magazine, the New
403
00:25:32.940 --> 00:25:35.880
York Times, and several former employees who have tried to
404
00:25:35.900 --> 00:25:36.700
go public.
405
00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:37.069
Over the years.
406
00:25:38.069 --> 00:25:40.289
And then there are the five legal actions he's filed
407
00:25:40.329 --> 00:25:44.130
against the CBC and our sources. including the criminal charges.
408
00:25:46.029 --> 00:25:49.650
By 2011, Peter Nygaard's legal assault against the CBC was
409
00:25:49.710 --> 00:25:53.650
in high gear. That's when a private investigator working for Nygaard,
410
00:25:54.089 --> 00:25:58.690
Alec Morrison, filed an affidavit saying he has recordings that
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00:25:58.730 --> 00:26:02.150
show the CBC's criminal behavior, and they needed to be
412
00:26:02.190 --> 00:26:05.910
brought to the attention of the FBI. It was the
413
00:26:06.019 --> 00:26:09.140
first clear indication we had been infiltrated.
414
00:26:12.779 --> 00:26:16.539
It's almost five to six now, and it's July the 6th.
415
00:26:17.259 --> 00:26:19.279
I'm in the Lewis Hotel.
416
00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:25.440
The audio is hard to make out, but this is
417
00:26:25.539 --> 00:26:28.920
Alec Morrison recording himself as he's coming out of a meeting.
418
00:26:29.740 --> 00:26:38.759
He was asking for dirt on Peter Nygaard. He said
419
00:26:38.779 --> 00:26:41.160
his objective was to put something concrete in front of
420
00:26:41.200 --> 00:26:45.160
his client. His client is supposedly a fashion company in Europe,
421
00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:49.720
a Nygaard competitor that wants to take Nygaard down. But
422
00:26:49.759 --> 00:26:53.400
in reality, Alec Morrison is a former Scotland Yard detective
423
00:26:53.740 --> 00:26:57.750
working for Peter Nygaard. He has brokered this fake meeting
424
00:26:57.769 --> 00:27:02.329
with the CBC's private investigator. His actual goal? Dig up
425
00:27:02.369 --> 00:27:13.279
dirt on the CBC. And for some reason... he keeps
426
00:27:13.460 --> 00:27:16.849
asking about a connection between the
CBC and Nygaard's neighbour
427
00:27:17.009 --> 00:27:19.170
and nemesis, billionaire Louis Bacon.
428
00:27:19.190 --> 00:27:22.509
Do you remember we were asking if the question was
429
00:27:22.650 --> 00:27:26.009
whether Louis Bacon kind of assisted with the CBC program?
430
00:27:28.470 --> 00:27:32.400
Jerry Forrester, our PI, has no idea these conversations are
431
00:27:32.420 --> 00:27:36.279
being recorded, or that the person they're really after is me.
432
00:27:37.339 --> 00:27:40.640
What's next Tuesday, King Rock? Each hour.
433
00:27:47.779 --> 00:27:50.980
Last year, I told Jerry the true purpose of these meetings.
434
00:27:53.589 --> 00:27:56.069
You know what evidence they used to charge me and
435
00:27:56.089 --> 00:27:58.849
other people at the CBC with criminal charge? They used
436
00:27:58.950 --> 00:28:00.250
Alex Morrison's investigation.
437
00:28:01.349 --> 00:28:02.150
Are you kidding me?
438
00:28:03.170 --> 00:28:06.710
So, from my understanding, they went to you to get
439
00:28:06.759 --> 00:28:07.150
to us.
440
00:28:08.420 --> 00:28:08.819
You think?
441
00:28:09.880 --> 00:28:10.140
I know.
442
00:28:14.809 --> 00:28:17.230
At this point, I'd already been approached by a number
443
00:28:17.269 --> 00:28:20.599
of different people, claiming they were looking into Peter Nygaard.
444
00:28:21.640 --> 00:28:25.920
It turned out they were also working for him. We
445
00:28:25.960 --> 00:28:29.619
would later learn this undercover ruse lasted three months and
446
00:28:29.660 --> 00:28:32.950
involved interviews with dozens of sources and trips to New York,
447
00:28:33.269 --> 00:28:36.910
the Bahamas, and eventually another meeting between Forrester and that
448
00:28:37.009 --> 00:28:38.549
fake fashion company in London.
449
00:28:40.430 --> 00:28:43.230
We're meeting with this fashion company. We don't know the
450
00:28:43.269 --> 00:28:46.740
name of it yet. And Bradley and I fly to London.
451
00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:50.720
He had somebody meet us at the airport. And on
452
00:28:50.740 --> 00:28:54.519
the guy's, what do you call it, front seat, the
453
00:28:54.619 --> 00:28:57.220
console in the front seat, there was the name of
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00:28:57.240 --> 00:28:59.730
the company written on it. It was like I was
455
00:28:59.769 --> 00:29:03.470
set up. He has me sit in the front seat.
456
00:29:03.789 --> 00:29:05.789
He has the name of this company there that he's
457
00:29:06.170 --> 00:29:10.079
picking us up for. We're working for Jennifer Fashions, and
458
00:29:10.119 --> 00:29:14.680
there is a Jennifer Fashions. So we meet in an
459
00:29:14.789 --> 00:29:16.569
office building somewhere in London.
460
00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:22.609
Late into the meeting, the so-called fashion executives finally ask
461
00:29:22.769 --> 00:29:26.630
our private investigators their big question. They want to know
462
00:29:26.670 --> 00:29:31.309
if Louis Bacon, Nygaard's former neighbor, funded our story. Of
463
00:29:31.390 --> 00:29:34.069
course the answer is no, which is what Jerry tells them.
464
00:29:35.109 --> 00:29:37.539
If the goal of the undercover investigation was to connect
465
00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:40.619
the CBC to Louis Bacon and show some kind of conspiracy,
466
00:29:41.180 --> 00:29:46.079
then it was a bust. Instead, Nygaard's own fake investigation
467
00:29:46.200 --> 00:29:49.910
resulted in several people on tape talking about rumors of
468
00:29:49.970 --> 00:29:58.950
Nygaard's abuse of others. This is Mary Braithwaite. She's the
469
00:29:58.990 --> 00:30:02.589
GM of the Lyford Key Property Owners Association in the Bahamas.
470
00:30:03.890 --> 00:30:08.559
Those undercover tapes could have been damaging to Nygaard.
471
00:30:27.910 --> 00:30:31.140
And his lawyer successfully argued for a publication ban in court,
472
00:30:31.579 --> 00:30:35.779
keeping the tapes from the public. But recently, they were released.
473
00:30:36.579 --> 00:30:40.279
And that's why we can finally tell the story. Despite
474
00:30:40.299 --> 00:30:43.839
the undercover investigation finding no evidence we did anything wrong,
475
00:30:44.359 --> 00:30:48.279
the Canadian criminal case against us chugged on. That's because
476
00:30:48.359 --> 00:30:51.480
Nygaard still had the second pillar of his case, his
477
00:30:51.579 --> 00:30:56.019
key witness, that young woman from the Dominican Republic, Maribel.
478
00:30:57.549 --> 00:31:00.150
She had sworn an affidavit that effectively said the CBC
479
00:31:00.190 --> 00:31:03.109
got it wrong. Peter Nygaard had done nothing to hurt her.
480
00:31:04.569 --> 00:31:08.700
She was scheduled to testify against us in 2019. But
481
00:31:08.740 --> 00:31:12.180
before that could happen, I met a Nygaard insider who
482
00:31:12.220 --> 00:31:14.859
helped me see her story in a whole new light.
483
00:31:18.440 --> 00:31:21.700
In 2014, big news broke that one of Peter Nygaard's
484
00:31:21.799 --> 00:31:26.359
personal videographers had switched sides. After working for Nygaard for
485
00:31:26.380 --> 00:31:30.990
nearly three years, this employee approached Louis Bacon. In exchange
486
00:31:31.029 --> 00:31:32.529
for a promise to back him up if he were
487
00:31:32.569 --> 00:31:35.710
sued and payment for living expenses, he was willing to
488
00:31:35.750 --> 00:31:37.990
turn over all of his video footage and become a
489
00:31:38.019 --> 00:31:42.640
witness against Nygaard. Last year, I finally got a chance
490
00:31:42.680 --> 00:31:43.180
to meet him.
491
00:31:48.359 --> 00:31:52.240
So this video is Nygaard flying on his airplane and
492
00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:55.259
one of the girlfriends is dancing on the stripper pole.
493
00:31:56.769 --> 00:32:00.150
His name is Steven Feraglio. He agreed to talk to
494
00:32:00.190 --> 00:32:01.829
me and show me his footage.
495
00:32:03.690 --> 00:32:07.250
When I first was hired, Nygaard told me that the
496
00:32:07.269 --> 00:32:09.569
reason why Jesus is so popular is because he had
497
00:32:09.589 --> 00:32:12.869
a good PR team. He was well-documented. So he wanted
498
00:32:13.009 --> 00:32:16.549
everything filmed. And then later we would piece it together
499
00:32:16.609 --> 00:32:19.549
and edit it however we saw fit. But my job
500
00:32:19.609 --> 00:32:23.029
was to film literally everything. 99% of my travels was
501
00:32:23.049 --> 00:32:23.450
I was filming.
502
00:32:27.650 --> 00:32:31.000
Stephen said he wanted to make something clear. As far
503
00:32:31.059 --> 00:32:34.059
as he knows, he never witnessed or filmed anything illegal.
504
00:32:35.460 --> 00:32:38.079
We spent hours and hours together looking at the video
505
00:32:38.119 --> 00:32:41.380
he shot. He showed me footage of Nygaard screaming at
506
00:32:41.400 --> 00:32:42.059
his employees.
507
00:32:42.079 --> 00:32:47.569
It's so disgusting, your fucking behaviors. It's the worst fucking
508
00:32:47.589 --> 00:32:48.529
place I visit.
509
00:32:49.609 --> 00:32:51.309
Only place I can be pissed off.
510
00:32:51.190 --> 00:32:51.730
Like this at.
511
00:32:52.789 --> 00:32:57.039
It's just sheer fucking neglect. Sheer fucking rudeness.
512
00:32:59.089 --> 00:33:01.569
Trying to get the phone number of a 16-year-old athlete
513
00:33:01.890 --> 00:33:03.049
at the Olympics in London.
514
00:33:04.109 --> 00:33:06.250
Just to be here at Olympics and to be running.
515
00:33:06.390 --> 00:33:07.190
Good for you.
516
00:33:07.210 --> 00:33:08.829
And that's 16 yet.
517
00:33:08.890 --> 00:33:12.529
So you've got another Olympics to come in Brazil.
518
00:33:13.009 --> 00:33:14.339
Get a cell number or something.
519
00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:18.440
And bragging about how he helped get politicians elected in
520
00:33:18.460 --> 00:33:19.019
the Bahamas.
521
00:33:20.420 --> 00:33:21.400
Isn't that wonderful?
522
00:33:21.420 --> 00:33:22.809
We won, we won, we won.
523
00:33:23.029 --> 00:33:25.509
Thanks to everybody, you know. They were one of the
524
00:33:25.529 --> 00:33:26.509
best nights of my life.
525
00:33:26.990 --> 00:33:27.329
Yeah.
526
00:33:27.789 --> 00:33:30.049
I never thought I'd get so involved with politics, of
527
00:33:30.089 --> 00:33:33.910
all things. Let alone be the key instrument in making
528
00:33:33.950 --> 00:33:35.069
it happen, for Christ's sake.
529
00:33:35.109 --> 00:33:35.470
Wow.
530
00:33:37.410 --> 00:33:40.589
Then, as we scrolled through his footage together, out of
531
00:33:40.609 --> 00:33:43.329
the blue, Stephen mentioned a familiar name.
532
00:33:44.869 --> 00:33:49.730
All right, this is Maribel Rodriguez on Nygaard's plane.
533
00:33:51.289 --> 00:33:54.109
That's right, the same woman who was the key witness
534
00:33:54.150 --> 00:33:56.750
against us in the criminal case launched by Nygaard.
535
00:33:58.880 --> 00:34:02.299
So I first met Maribel on a trip to Dominican Republic,
536
00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:05.980
to Punta Cana, with Nygaard.
It was clear that Nygaard
537
00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:09.469
previously knew her. She was very familiar with him, and
538
00:34:10.070 --> 00:34:12.250
then she started kind of working with us from that
539
00:34:12.309 --> 00:34:12.809
trip on.
540
00:34:14.690 --> 00:34:19.889
Stephen's videos proved, after our original documentary, Nygaard gave Maribel
541
00:34:20.070 --> 00:34:23.559
a job. There are videos of her traveling in China
542
00:34:23.579 --> 00:34:33.000
with Nygaard and touring the Great Wall. Maribel playing poker
543
00:34:33.039 --> 00:34:39.730
with Nygaard in Winnipeg. Partying with Nygaard at a nightclub
544
00:34:39.809 --> 00:34:47.010
in the Bahamas. Even celebrating Christmas with Nygaard and his
545
00:34:47.050 --> 00:34:48.449
family and making a speech.
546
00:34:49.510 --> 00:34:53.889
And thank you everybody. And thank you to be here.
547
00:34:55.829 --> 00:34:58.349
While the videos appear to show Maribel having a good time,
548
00:34:59.150 --> 00:35:02.690
Stephen said when the camera wasn't rolling, the reality could
549
00:35:02.730 --> 00:35:03.449
be much different.
550
00:35:05.880 --> 00:35:09.139
So she translated and helped us in Dominican Republic. She
551
00:35:09.199 --> 00:35:11.559
kind of just took us around and from then on,
552
00:35:12.159 --> 00:35:15.519
she became kind of like a personal assistant. I know
553
00:35:15.579 --> 00:35:19.159
on one occasion she was cutting Nygaard's fingernails and brushing
554
00:35:19.179 --> 00:35:23.280
his teeth and showering him and also packing his pills
555
00:35:23.360 --> 00:35:25.969
and organizing him when he would go to a hotel.
556
00:35:26.150 --> 00:35:28.449
She would unpack him and she became kind of like
557
00:35:28.489 --> 00:35:31.789
a personal assistant. So we were staying at a hotel
558
00:35:31.849 --> 00:35:34.570
in China and I heard screaming from down the hall
559
00:35:34.650 --> 00:35:37.849
and it was Maribel and Nygaard. And I walked over
560
00:35:37.869 --> 00:35:39.969
and I listened and he was just screaming at her
561
00:35:40.030 --> 00:35:41.929
and she was on the floor and she was crying
562
00:35:41.969 --> 00:35:44.789
and she was like flailing her arms and she was
563
00:35:44.809 --> 00:35:46.289
just very, very distraught.
564
00:35:48.699 --> 00:35:51.840
Then Stephen dropped a bomb. He tells me about a
565
00:35:51.880 --> 00:35:54.519
video he filmed with Maribel that appears to have direct
566
00:35:54.579 --> 00:35:57.500
ties with Nygaard's criminal case against the CBC.
567
00:35:58.980 --> 00:36:01.460
At some point when I was working for Nygaard, Tina Tula,
568
00:36:01.500 --> 00:36:04.460
corporate executive with the Nygaard companies, approached me and asked
569
00:36:04.519 --> 00:36:09.900
me to film something. And so I went down and
570
00:36:09.920 --> 00:36:12.179
I set up for an interview with Maribel.
571
00:36:13.929 --> 00:36:16.190
We wish we could let you hear it. But Stephen
572
00:36:16.250 --> 00:36:18.809
says he was told to destroy the footage after he
573
00:36:18.869 --> 00:36:19.269
filmed it.
574
00:36:20.710 --> 00:36:23.190
I still have the invoice and a picture from the setup.
575
00:36:24.570 --> 00:36:26.590
She had a statement up off to the side of
576
00:36:26.630 --> 00:36:30.929
the camera and Tina was there coaching her. And I
577
00:36:30.949 --> 00:36:33.320
had to cut the camera multiple times. Maribel was crying
578
00:36:33.400 --> 00:36:35.079
and we would stop and then I would help her
579
00:36:35.139 --> 00:36:38.340
pronounce words. She didn't know what some of these words are.
580
00:36:38.360 --> 00:36:40.480
It was very obvious that this statement was written for
581
00:36:40.539 --> 00:36:43.000
her and she was reading it sort of against her will.
582
00:36:44.090 --> 00:36:47.050
And so after that, I edited that video, I sent
583
00:36:47.110 --> 00:36:49.610
it in, and then I was paid very promptly.
584
00:36:51.190 --> 00:36:55.010
Stephen's recollection of that videotaped statement is a near identical
585
00:36:55.070 --> 00:36:58.989
match to Maribel's sworn affidavit sent to the CBC.
586
00:37:00.599 --> 00:37:03.679
I remember her saying, Peter Nygaard was nothing but a
587
00:37:03.760 --> 00:37:07.219
gentleman to me. I never met the Mays.
588
00:37:09.840 --> 00:37:12.760
The Mays are the two former Nygaard employees we interviewed.
589
00:37:13.239 --> 00:37:15.980
who said she was screaming and crying and looking for
590
00:37:16.019 --> 00:37:16.639
help one night.
591
00:37:18.780 --> 00:37:21.880
So when Tina would leave or get an email or something,
592
00:37:21.960 --> 00:37:23.500
Maribel and I would look at each other and she
593
00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:27.940
would give me this look like her heart rate, I'm sure,
594
00:37:27.980 --> 00:37:32.199
was elevated. Her breaths were erratic. She was sobbing. This
595
00:37:33.280 --> 00:37:37.340
was not a pleasant experience for Maribel. And then the
596
00:37:37.380 --> 00:37:39.820
fact that I was then asked to This was the
597
00:37:39.980 --> 00:37:43.210
only time I've ever been asked by the Nygaard companies
598
00:37:43.730 --> 00:37:48.530
to erase footage. I think Tina just said, you know,
599
00:37:48.550 --> 00:37:51.070
this is just like a secret project where you got
600
00:37:51.090 --> 00:37:53.530
to just do it. So on a number of occasions
601
00:37:53.570 --> 00:37:56.199
while filming her, I had to cut the camera and
602
00:37:56.590 --> 00:38:01.880
we calmed Maribel down and then we recorded. So I
603
00:38:01.940 --> 00:38:04.699
cut out all the parts where Maribel was distraught and
604
00:38:04.739 --> 00:38:08.119
I edited together a nice statement. I gave it to
605
00:38:08.139 --> 00:38:09.920
Tina and deleted it on my end.
606
00:38:12.719 --> 00:38:14.679
I reached Tina on the phone late last year.
607
00:38:16.500 --> 00:38:19.460
So we spoke to one of Peter Nygaard's videographers who
608
00:38:19.480 --> 00:38:22.199
talks about the day that you asked him to set
609
00:38:22.260 --> 00:38:24.880
up for an interview and that Maribel came down for
610
00:38:24.900 --> 00:38:27.039
the interview and that she was crying, that you were
611
00:38:27.099 --> 00:38:30.030
coaching her, and that she was making a statement against
612
00:38:30.070 --> 00:38:31.860
her will. That's what he observed.
613
00:38:32.300 --> 00:38:32.739
Oh no.
614
00:38:33.070 --> 00:38:34.050
Oh my goodness, no.
615
00:38:34.969 --> 00:38:38.150
Maribel Rodriguez would never have done any kind of a
616
00:38:38.170 --> 00:38:42.800
statement against her will. I mean, that's not true.
617
00:38:44.340 --> 00:38:46.460
So do you recall a statement being taken from Maribel
618
00:38:46.960 --> 00:38:47.420
on video?
619
00:38:49.280 --> 00:38:53.840
I recall Maribel giving a statement of her own, and
620
00:38:54.070 --> 00:38:58.989
I recall helping with her accent. She speaks, at that
621
00:38:59.030 --> 00:39:03.679
time anyway, she had a heavy Spanish accent. She was
622
00:39:03.719 --> 00:39:05.880
trying hard to pronounce the things that she wanted to
623
00:39:05.900 --> 00:39:09.800
say in English, but that's, I mean, she would never
624
00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:12.420
have made a fake anything.
625
00:39:15.760 --> 00:39:18.750
We had more questions for Tina, but later she said
626
00:39:18.789 --> 00:39:21.710
she wouldn't talk to us anymore because of, quote, all
627
00:39:21.730 --> 00:39:27.750
of the legal cases. I asked even Fraglio if Maribel
628
00:39:27.769 --> 00:39:30.519
had ever said anything about Nygaard's fight with the CBC.
629
00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:35.159
Not directly about this. I do have something that I
630
00:39:35.199 --> 00:39:39.429
could share. Maribel had a son back in Dominican Republic
631
00:39:39.530 --> 00:39:44.090
and her mother that she was supporting financially. So I
632
00:39:44.130 --> 00:39:45.989
know that she would take her paychecks and send them
633
00:39:46.010 --> 00:39:49.460
directly to her mother and her son. So I remember
634
00:39:49.500 --> 00:39:52.659
her saying, like, this job is crazy. This is crazy,
635
00:39:52.699 --> 00:39:54.199
but I have to do it. I have to support
636
00:39:54.239 --> 00:39:54.719
my family.
637
00:40:00.449 --> 00:40:05.170
It was a sad revelation. We contacted Maribel recently, but
638
00:40:05.210 --> 00:40:07.389
she let us know through her lawyer that she wasn't
639
00:40:07.429 --> 00:40:10.710
going to speak to us at this time. Over the
640
00:40:10.750 --> 00:40:14.539
last decade, we saw up close the extreme lengths that
641
00:40:14.599 --> 00:40:17.559
Peter Nygaard was willing to go to to stop our reporting.
642
00:40:18.619 --> 00:40:23.800
I'd been surveilled, sued, and criminally prosecuted. It's no wonder
643
00:40:23.820 --> 00:40:26.840
that other journalists before us had tried, but were defeated.
644
00:40:28.050 --> 00:40:31.090
Without the CBC behind us, our story almost certainly would
645
00:40:31.130 --> 00:40:33.969
have died before it went to air. And we wouldn't
646
00:40:34.010 --> 00:40:38.329
be doing this podcast today. Nygaard repeatedly used the courts
647
00:40:38.530 --> 00:40:41.690
and its political and economic influence to silence anyone who
648
00:40:41.710 --> 00:40:45.590
tried to expose him. Until last year, when dozens of
649
00:40:45.639 --> 00:40:48.650
women came forward So many were kept in the dark.
650
00:40:50.510 --> 00:40:53.269
Even members of Nygaard's family say they had no idea.
651
00:40:53.849 --> 00:40:56.309
But now, some of them are speaking out against him
652
00:40:57.130 --> 00:41:06.530
and bringing forward accusations of their own. Coming up on
653
00:41:06.730 --> 00:41:07.469
Evil by Design.
654
00:41:07.489 --> 00:41:11.010
I'm looking at his eyes because I was thinking to myself,
655
00:41:11.659 --> 00:41:13.739
who is this guy? Did I just see what I
656
00:41:13.780 --> 00:41:18.260
really thought I saw? Your father... is going to go
657
00:41:18.280 --> 00:41:20.780
down in history as one of the worst sexual predators
658
00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:25.500
there ever was. It is a living hell. This is
659
00:41:25.579 --> 00:41:29.920
what I saw with my own eyes. This isn't he said,
660
00:41:29.960 --> 00:41:30.340
she said.
661
00:41:30.420 --> 00:41:33.219
This is what my brothers told me.
662
00:41:36.360 --> 00:41:38.199
If anything you've heard in this episode has left you
663
00:41:38.219 --> 00:41:42.860
looking for someone to talk to, please visit cbc.ca slash uncover.
664
00:41:43.519 --> 00:41:45.460
We have a number of resources there for those in
665
00:41:45.519 --> 00:41:49.159
need of help and support. Evil by Design is a
666
00:41:49.199 --> 00:41:53.250
co-production between CBC Podcasts and The Fifth Estate. You can
667
00:41:53.289 --> 00:41:57.010
find The Fifth Estate's latest documentary, Peter Nygaard, The Secret Videos,
668
00:41:57.250 --> 00:42:01.150
on YouTube. This podcast is written by producer Ashley Mack,
669
00:42:01.469 --> 00:42:06.230
associate producer Alina Ghosh, and me, Timothy Sawa, with assistance
670
00:42:06.369 --> 00:42:09.829
from Lynette Fortune at The Fifth Estate. Mixing and sound
671
00:42:09.849 --> 00:42:13.920
design by Evan Kelly. with technical assistance from Lauda Antonelli.
672
00:42:14.780 --> 00:42:18.219
For this episode, special thanks goes to Danny Henry, Sally Reardon,
673
00:42:18.440 --> 00:42:23.360
and David Studer. Emily Connell is our digital producer. Fact-checking
674
00:42:23.400 --> 00:42:27.880
by Emily Mathieu, and legal advice from Sean Mormon. Original
675
00:42:27.920 --> 00:42:32.360
music by Olivia Pasquarelli. Our senior producer at CBC Podcasts
676
00:42:32.539 --> 00:42:36.219
is Chris Oak, and our executive producer is Arif Noorani.
677
00:42:48.420 --> 00:42:53.260
For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.