Bacon, Police Officer, and CBC Executives Face Criminal Case in Bahamas

A new criminal complaint has been filed in the Bahamas courts against a police officer, a hedge fund billionaire, A Lyford Cay resident, and media professionals in the latest phase of an international fight for Peter Nygard to clear his name.

Nygard has already won the first round in the courts in Canada against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, claiming that the media giant went beyond the scope of true journalism to wreck his image and career, all for the sake of his Lyford Cay neighbor, Louis Bacon.  Judges in Canada saw good reason to allow Nygard’s case to proceed.  The fact that the CBC did a similar smear campaign against two doctors doesn’t help their case this time around.  Dr. Frans Leenan, a well known cardiovascular researcher, and Dr. Martin Myers, brought a libel suit against CBC in 2002 and won after the court ruled that the documentary aired on the doctors was “sensational journalism of the worst sort”, giving a multi-million dollar damage award to the doctors. 

Nygard’s fight extended from Canada to New York and now to the Bahamas, as residents here were also allegedly caught up in the plot.  The criminal suit filed in the Supreme Court is set against Louis Bacon; Jerry Forrester; Bradley Pratt; Timothy Sawa; Morris Karp; Bob McKeown; Pericles Maillis; and Mary Braithwaite.

Bacon, Forrester and Pratt are already facing a case in the Supreme Court: Action 00393/2011, in which a veteran officer of London’s Scotland Yard Police swore an Affidavit describing and alleging a pattern of conduct of which Bacon led the ground work for a smear campaign against Nygard.  Former Scotland Yard Inspector Mr. Alick Morrison of 7 Castleham Court Middlesex London gave the court information about a worrisome conspiracy hatched by Bacon.  

The nasty debacle is said to have stemmed from an argument over property. Nygard contends that his complaints to the Lyford Cay Property Owners Association went unanswered as Bacon continued with the construction of an extension to his property that directly interfered with Nygard’s property.   To date, Nygard and his guests fear when it rains, as Bacon’s construction has caused a deluge at the entrance to Nygard Cay.  Also his guests have been severely cut off from the original entrance and new guests get lost trying to find Nygard Cay and the neighbors construction has totally changed the layout of the entrance.   

Inspector Morrison alleged that Bacon got the Lyford Cay Property Owners Association to work with him to discredit Nygard in a way which would lead to his expulsion from the community. The Association, led by Managing Director Mary Braithwaite,  is alleged to have hired Forrester to do the dirty work. Forrester, a private PI, then hired Pratt to help him.  The Scotland Yard officer describes Pratt in the Affidavit as a cold calculating man who killed or maimed prisoners on his keep.  Forrester talks extensively on secret video tape recordings about Pratt killed a prisoner that Forrester literally kidnapped and brought back to Nassau.  Forrester also brags about his running interference to get the Canadian television station to air the documentary in an attempt to bring Nygard down. 

CBC employees who allegedly participated in the plot are also facing the criminal suit of defamatory libel.  The defamatory libel pertains to statements made by Allan and Michelle May, former Nygard employees, and comments made by the host creating the impression that Nygard assaulted a guest from the Dominican Republic while she was at Nygard Cay.  She fully denied this under oath.
CBC hired questionable representatives that are alleged to have acted inappropriately  they had an opportunity to talk to her before broadcasting the story but were instructed not to do so by the CBC employees who are the defendants in this criminal case, namely: Timothy Sawa, producer/director; Morris Karp, co-producer; and Bob McKeown.  Summons have been issued.         

These CBC representatives allegedly hired Forrester and Pratt and worked in collaboration with Bacon's Lawyer Pericles Mailis as well as Mary Braithwaite to find people who would give fabricated statements on camera.  Court statements will show allegations that Bacon was prepared to pay women up to $10,000 to give false statements about Nygard’s alleged actions. 

The Media, being the fifth estate, is held to a standard which CBC allegedly neglected for the sake of a ransom that Bacon put out.  The media house is alleged to have continued to pay Forrester and Pratt for information even while knowing that such criminal scheme was being conducted, all with the use of Canadian taxpayers' money.  The purpose of the conspiracy was to extort prime real estate known as Nygard Cay from Peter Nygard.

Pratt alone is charged separately on two other counts of extortion. CBC Fifth Estate producers knew that Forrester was a Bacon security consultant in Bahamas and were in touch with Steve Davis, a former New York police officer working for Bacon as his chief of "special" security. The witness statements confirm that the Bacon "special" agents were continually feeding information to CBC for broadcast purposes.

Bacon's Bahamian lawyer, Pericles Maillis, and PI Forrester, have been charged with criminal conspiracy in relation to finding persons to falsely state that they were indecently assaulted by Nygard.

Witness statements have been obtained which confirm that many people were approached by Pratt, his cousin Princess Pratt and others to make up false stories about Nygard to harm his reputation. People were said to have been offered sums of up to $10,000 for false information & additionally, another $10,000 if they were prepared to grant an on camera interview with 'CBC - Fifth Estate'. They were also offered money to find others to make such false allegations.  

Another criminal charge has been laid against Bacon and Braithwaite pertaining to Nygard’s easement rights over Bacon’s property which is the only land access to Nygard Cay. The count relates to the defrauding by Bacon and Braithwaite of Nygard’s property rights. Statements elaborate at length on the unscrupulous steps taken by Bacon and his agents to deprive Nygard of his easement which would cut off land access and virtually destroy all the value of Nygard Cay -- thus giving control of the property to Bacon, which Nygard claims has always been Bacon’s ultimate goal. The primary conspiracy by Bacon and Braithwaite, the court statements say, was that Bacon would purchase the property of his easterly neighbor and over a four-year period, completely limit roadway access to Nygard Cay, while destroying Nygard's legal easement access.  Each time Nygard sought help in getting Bacon to stop his attack on his property access, he claimed Bacon would employ the LCPOA and Police to stop Nygard from defending his rights to his own land.

After Bacon’s propositions were denied, a mysterious fire seriously damaged an extensive portion of Nygard Cay, where rich architectural designs inspired by a Mayan Temple inspired international photographers.  To date, Nygard has been unable to get government approval to rebuild his home, employing 300 Bahamians and spending nearly 20 million in the process. 

It is alleged that Bacon  has a close association with the present governing party, the FNM, which questionably has been refusing to grant Nygard building and zoning permits to rebuild his world famous home.  He hasn’t received proper assistance from government in obtaining immigration visas for his employees, amongst other things.   Court documents also state that Bacon has allegedly attempted to obtain other property in the Bahamas inappropriately.  In addition, Bacon has apparent ties with American presidential hopeful Mitt Romney by offering to hold a fund raiser for his bid to gain the presidents chair in America.  He left a half a million dollar donation with his friend Romney.  He offered the same amount to the Torries in the UK.  However, the Bahamas has no law forcing political parties to disclose their funders and it is for this reason Bahamians can only hold a strong assumption that he has done the same for the FNM.