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Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard facing potential jail sentence in contempt-of-court ruling

Peter Nygard's lavish Caribbean home hasn't turned out to be an idyllic retreat.

The Finnish-born Canadian women's-wear manufacturer's Mayan-themed estate in a gated community in the Bahamas' Lyford Cay has been featured on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and Oprah.

But the 14,000-square-metre complex was largely destroyed by fire in 2009, and has figured in a feud with one of Nygard's wealthy neighbours.

Now that dispute has left the millionaire sole-owner of Nygard International facing a possible jail sentence for contempt of court related to that spat.

The Globe and Mail reports that a Bahamas Supreme Court court has ordered Nygard to pay the equivalent of $49,000 for ignoring a judge's order not to alter a disputed roadway to his home. He must also restore the road to its original state.

If he doesn't comply within two weeks, Nygard could be imprisoned for 30 days, the Globe said.

Nygard and Louis Bacon, the billionaire boss of Moore Capital Management, a New York-based hedge fund, haven't exactly been sharing gardening tips over the back fence.

The two have met in court in the past, the Globe said, over complaints about Nygard's allegedly loud parties and Bacon's retaliation with loudspeakers turned up to 11.

Nygard has also alleged Bacon and other residents of Lyford Cay conspired to use a former FBI agent to plant unflattering stories about the Winnipeg entrepreneur in a segment of CBC's "Fifth Estate."

The Globe reported Bacon has since put his estate up for sale at an asking price of US$35-million.

The contentious road leading to Nygard's estate is on Bacon's property. Nygard claims he has an easement giving him a right-of-way but his opponents say he's made unilateral changes to the road.

The Bahamian court ruled Monday Nygard breached a June 13 court order to do no work on the roadway until the right-of-way dispute is settled, maintaining a sign pointing to his property — called Nygard Cay — as well as removing coral stones, destroying plants and blacktopping the road in front of his gate, the Globe said.

"He broke a solemn obligation to the court," Justice Stephen Isaacs wrote in his decision. "It matters not that a party passionately believes in his case, self help justice ... must be stopped."

The Bahamas Tribune noted Nygard and Bacon have been fighting in court for the last six years. Neither was present for the ruling.

Nygard's lawyer told the court his client was prepared to undo all the work on the roadway, the Tribune said.

Nygard, 68, is one of Canada's most flamboyant, some would say ruthless, businessmen. He turned a small women's clothing manufacturer into a major international success, selling durable and affordable fashions in department stores such as Sears and the U.S. Dillard's chain. His company has more than 10,000 employees worldwide.

But his climb to the top has been bumpy. A 2010 Forbes magazine feature chronicles allegations of sexual harassment, a charge of rape that was later dropped, a legal run-in with a former partner and episodes of high-handedness with employees of his company and at his Bahamas estate.

Nygard tried unsuccessfully in court to derail the Fifth Estate segment about him by alleging copyright infringement when they filmed a Nygard fashion show.

Nygard was married briefly in the 1970s but has fathered seven children with four different women, according to Forbes.

His alleged sexual proclivities came up in a California court case filed by model Yves-Lauren Crump, who sued a blogger for claiming in 2010 that the fashion magnate had paid her for kinky sex, according to the web site Opposing Views.