Sexual offence charges against Frank Stronach stem from 10 alleged victims: source
Stronach, 91, faces 13 charges, including new counts of sexual assault and attempted rape
The new criminal charges announced this week against billionaire businessman Frank Stronach stem from incidents involving a further seven alleged victims in Ontario, according to a source with knowledge of the case. This brings the total number of Stronach's alleged sexual assault victims to 10.
The source who spoke to CBC News said Stronach was taken into Peel Regional Police custody on Wednesday and released later in the day.
In all, Stronach is facing 13 charges, with the alleged sexual offences dating from as far back as 1977 to as recently as this past February, according to court documents.
"Mr. Stronach denies and will vigorously defend these further untested allegations," Stronach's lawyer, Brian Greenspan, said in a statement on Wednesday.
"He has spent his lifetime committed to the betterment of the Canadian community and industry."
Peel police near Toronto first announced they had arrested and charged Stronach, 91, on June 7. They initially laid five charges in connection with alleged assaults against three women in Ontario between 1980 and 2023.
On Wednesday, Peel police Cst. Tyler Bell-Morena said the force's Special Victims Unit had "identified additional victims and additional charges have been laid," including sexual assault and attempted rape.
But court documents obtained by CBC News on Friday from the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton indicate that the earliest of those charges relate to an alleged indecent assault and an alleged attempted rape against one woman between June 5, 1977, and Jan. 31, 1978, in Toronto or elsewhere in Ontario.
The six other charges stem from five sexual assaults that are alleged to have occurred between 1983 and 2002 in Aurora, Toronto or elsewhere in Ontario and one alleged sexual assault in the York Region hamlet of Gormley that Peel police say happened this past February.
The court documents identify the seven additional victims only by their initials.
Stronach is scheduled to appear in court on July 8.
Greenspan previously said his client "categorically denies the allegations of impropriety which have been brought against him." The charges have not been proven in court.
Trevin David, a Toronto-based criminal defence lawyer not involved in the case, said the decades that have gone by since some of the alleged offences should not matter.
"There's no statue of limitations like you might see in other countries," David said in an interview. He said if a complainant comes forward about an offence decades ago, "that can still be prosecuted today."
Born in Austria, Stronach came to Canada in 1954 and later founded Aurora, Ont.-based auto parts giant Magna International. The company said in a statement that Stronach has had no affiliation with Magna since relinquishing control in 2010.
His daughter, Belinda Stronach, a former MP for Newmarket-Aurora, leads another multinational founded by her father, the Stronach Group. Also known as 1/ST, the company specializes in thoroughbred horse racing and betting. The Stronach Group said Frank Stronach has not been involved in the company's operations for several years.
In 2018, Frank Stronach founded Stronach International, a company focused on organic agriculture and zero-emission transportation.
Stronach is a member of the Order of Canada and the Canadian Business Hall of Fame.
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