Billionaire businessman Frank Stronach facing eight additional charges: police

Billionaire businessman Frank Stronach, accused earlier this month of sex-related offences dating back decades, is now facing eight additional charges, police said Wednesday.

Peel Regional Police said the 91-year-old founder of auto parts giant Magna was arrested again and charged with six counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted rape and one count of indecent assault on a female.

They did not provide any details of those allegations but said investigators “have identified additional victims.”

Stronach was first arrested in early June and charged with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault on a female, one count of forcible confinement and two counts of sexual assault.

Court documents related to those charges said he was accused of sexually assaulting three different complainants in Toronto and Aurora, Ont., in alleged incidents that dated back to the 1980s.

Stronach’s lawyer Brian Greenspan said Wednesday that his client denies “and will vigorously defend these further untested allegations dating back to 1977.”

Greenspan said Stronach plans to continue his advocacy work to benefit Canadian businesses and the economy.

“He has spent his lifetime committed to the betterment of the Canadian community and industry,” he wrote in a statement.

Before the additional charges against him were laid, Stronach was scheduled to appear at a Brampton, Ont., courthouse on July 8.

Stronach, who was born in Austria, became one of Canada’s wealthiest people by creating Magna in his garage in 1957 and building it into one of the world’s largest suppliers of auto parts.

He also founded The Stronach Group, a company that specializes in horse racing, and founded Stronach International in 2018, a company focusing on organic foods and “micro-electric mobility.”

He resigned as Magna’s chairman in 2011 and founded his own political party in Austria the following year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 26, 2024.

Sonja Puzic, The Canadian Press