WARNING: This article references sexual assault allegations and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone impacted by it.
Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach’s trial in Toronto begins Tuesday as the 93-year-old is accused of sexual offences against several women, with some of the allegations dating back nearly five decades.
Stronach, founder of auto-parts giant Magna International, faces 12 charges, including sexual assault and forcible confinement. Two of the counts, rape and attempted rape, are considered historical charges as they were abolished when the Criminal Code was amended in 1983 to create the offence of sexual assault.
The allegations span the period between 1977 and 1990 in Toronto, one specified as having happened in suburban Scarborough.
There is no statute of limitations in Canada of indictable offences (more serious ones such as sexual assault, murder and kidnapping), which means someone could potentially face trial years or decades later.
The women’s names and anything that could identify them are protected under a publication ban.
Stronach has denied the allegations and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
He’s also expected to face a separate trial in Newmarket later this year after the case was split into two proceedings.
Arrested in June 2024, Stronach was initially charged with five sexual-related offences, with the counts rising to 18 counts involving 13 complainants across Ontario.
Stronach, an Order of Canada recipient, stepped down as Magna’s chair in 2011. Born in Austria, he became one of Canada’s wealthiest people as founder of the auto-parts giant in the 1950s.
He also founded the Stronach Group, one of the biggest industry names in horse racing, owning and operating thoroughbred tracks including Santa Anita Park in California.
Magna and the Stronach Group have said he no longer has any involvement with the companies’ operations.
For the Toronto proceedings, four weeks have been set aside before Ontario Superior Justice Anne Molloy. Initially, Stronach chose a trial by jury in Toronto, then switched to one with a judge alone.
A noted case overseen by Molloy involved Alek Minassian, charged in the van attack in suburban Toronto in 2018. Three years later, Molloy found him guilty of 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder.
The prosecutors in the Stronach case are assistant Crown attorneys Jelena Vlacic and Julia Bellehumeur.
Stronach’s lawyer is Leora Shemesh, who represented Toronto city Coun. Michael Thompson. He was found not guilty in September of sexually assaulting two women at a Muskoka cottage.
In the Newmarket proceedings, he’ll face six sexual assault charges involving six complainants — one of those charges dates back to 1988, with two charges as recent as April 2023 and February 2024. That case is being tried in the town about 50 kilometres north of Toronto as the alleged assaults are said to have occurred in York Region, including Aurora, where Magna International’s head office is located.
Separate from the trials, Stronach faces a civil lawsuit by Jane Boon, who’s seeking over $4 million and punitive damages. Boon isn’t a complainant in either sexual assault trial.
In her civil case, she’s alleged Stronach sexually assaulted her in December 1986 while she was a 19-year-old intern at his company.
None of the allegations in the civil case or the criminal cases have been proven in court.
Shortly after his arrest nearly two years ago, Stronach was interviewed by CBC’s the fifth estate and denied the accusations, saying they “are lies.”
“We have a lot of data which totally will prove those things are lies,” Stronach told host Mark Kelley at the time.
“But I feel sorry for the women that made those charges.”
He also said he believed the women were looking for a payout.
Late in 2024, CBC News interviewed one of the women complainants.
She said she was 20 years old in 1980 when she was invited to a party at a Toronto bar owned by Stronach at the time.
According to the woman, Stronach assaulted her on the dance floor and she later woke up in a waterfront apartment bedroom with no knowledge about how she got there or where her clothes were.
Adam Weisberg, a defence lawyer in Toronto who is not involved in Stronach’s trials, spoke to The Canadian Press generally about cases involving historical charges.
Historical charges are tried based on the law as it was at the time, but typically under the current rules regarding evidence and procedures, Weisberg said.
He also said historical cases can be complicated and technical, and come with challenges for both prosecutors and defence counsel.
“For the prosecution … you have evidence that is recounting events that happened a long time ago, so you have to deal with the frailties of human memory,” he said.
“With regard to the defence, there can be difficulties with respect to the preservation of evidence or items they might have preserved otherwise, had they known there were going to be allegations.”
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.
