Frank Stronach faces sentencing hearing on indecent assault conviction
Earlier this year, Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach was facing 12 charges related to allegations of sexual assault from seven women dating back almost 50 years. A number of those charges were withdrawn. (Alex Lupul/CBC)Social SharingWARNING: This story refers to sexual assault allegations and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
When his judge-alone trial began in a Toronto courtroom in February, Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach was facing 12 charges related to allegations of sexual assault from seven women dating back almost 50 years.
But in a sentencing hearing Thursday, the 94-year-old founder of auto-parts giant Magna International could be sentenced on just one of those charges — indecent assault.
On the indecent assault charge, one of the women had told the court that Stronach invited her to a midtown Toronto apartment sometime in the fall of 1977 and, while there, bent her over the arm of a chair, lifted up her skirt and tried to rape her.
Stronach had been charged with attempted rape and indecent assault for that particular incident. But during the course of the trial, the Crown dropped the attempted rape charge.
In her decision, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy agreed that much of what the witness described had happened, but also agreed with the Crown's decision to withdraw the attempted rape charge because it was unclear whether Stronach would have been able to penetrate the woman based on her state of dress at the time.
Still, Molloy referred to it as "gross and disgusting conduct," which is why she found him guilty of indecent assault. The offence is a historical charge, having been repealed from the Criminal Code in 1983. That means anyone charged similarly today would face a sexual assault charge.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy presided over Stronach's judge-alone trial. (Alexandra Newbould/CBC)In June, Molloy also found Stronach guilty of sexual assault related to another woman who said Stronach groped her in his Toronto Harbourfront condo sometime in 1983 or 1984. The woman said she had gone to meet him for dinner to discuss why she had been fired as a waitress at his then restaurant, Rooney's. She said Stronach invited her to his condo, which is where he groped her.
Molloy said she was "completely convinced" by the woman's evidence. Molloy did, however, "with considerable trepidation," describe it as a minor sexual assault, saying that the conduct was at the "low end" of the spectrum of sexual assault.
However, weeks after the decision, emails were presented in court from the woman's lawyer in a separate civil complaint. Stronach's lawyer Leora Shemesh alleged those emails told a story inconsistent with the woman's testimony in the criminal trial.
Molloy then granted a mistrial on the sexual assault conviction. The Crown is appealing that decision.
Throughout the trial, which lasted more than two months, the Crown withdrew a number of charges following the testimony and cross-examination of some of the complainants, saying there was not sufficient evidence to sustain findings of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt on those particular counts.
By the time Molloy was set to render her decision in June, Stronach was facing five counts related to three women.
All of the initial seven complainants, whose allegations span the period between 1977 and 1990, testified in court, offering an emotional account of the sexual offences they say they experienced at the hands of Stronach.
Stronach, who was in court every day but never took the witness box in his own defence, had denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Meanwhile, Stronach is set to face another trial in Newmarket, Ont., next year. When Stronach was initially arrested in June 2024, he was charged with 18 offences involving 13 complainants. But the case was split into two trials later that year.
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Sexual Violence Association of Canada database.
Mark Gollom is a Toronto-based reporter with CBC News. He covers Canadian and U.S. politics and current affairs.
