By Ryan Patrick Jones
TORONTO, June 19 (Reuters) - Canadian billionaire businessman Frank Stronach was found guilty on Friday of one count of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault, in a judgment where the judge described some of his behavior as “gross and disgusting.”
Police arrested and charged Stronach in 2024 with criminal offenses, including sexual assault and rape, for alleged crimes dating from the 1970s to 2024.
Austrian-born Stronach, 93, founded Canadian auto parts company Magna
International in 1957 and later became one of the country’s richest people. Magna said it has had no affiliation with Stronach since he relinquished control of the company in 2010.
After a trial that began in February, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy found Stronach guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in the early 1980s. The woman alleged the assault occurred when she visited his Toronto condo after having dinner nearby.
Molloy also found Stronach guilty on one charge of indecent assault in the late 1970s, involving a woman who said he groped her at his condo.
Stronach did not testify during the trial. Molloy found Stronach not guilty on other charges, including attempted rape and rape.
Leora Shemesh, one of Stronach’s lawyers, said in an email that they are “extremely happy” that other serious charges, rape and more counts of sexual assault, he had been facing were dismissed.
"We are disappointed by the convictions on the two very minor offenses," she said.
Stronach will be sentenced later. He faces another sexual assault trial next year.
(Writing by Maria ChengEditing by Rod Nickel)
