An Ontario Superior Court heard arguments on Thursday in a lawsuit filed by Frank Stronach’s granddaughter, who is seeking an order compelling the family business to disclose any documents that might exist related to complaints of sexual misconduct against him and settlements involving complainants.
Stronach, a 91-year-old billionaire businessman, has been charged with sexually assaulting 10 complainants.
The alleged offences include rape, attempted rape, indecent assault, forcible confinement and sexual assault, and relate to alleged incidents dating as far back as 1977 and as recently as this year. None of the allegations have been tested in court.
In a civil suit, Selena Stronach claims that media coverage of the allegations against her grandfather suggest misconduct occurred in a corporate setting and that corporate funds may have been misused and put towards payments for women who may have been abused.
Selena Stronach claims in legal documents that because she has “beneficial interests” in family trusts, she would have suffered from any misuse of corporate funds.
The defendants in the civil case include Frank Stronach’s daughter, Belinda Stronach, CEO and president of The Stronach Group, as well as Alon Ossip, a former company CEO.
Belinda Stronach’s two children, Nicole and Frank Walker, are also defendants.
Mark Gelowitz, a lawyer for the defendants, argued in court on Thursday that Selena Stronach is on a “fishing expedition,” insisting she has no evidence settlement documents exist.
Gelowitz further argued that Selena Stronach was merely trying to embarrass his clients.
Selena Stronach’s lawyer, Matthew Gottlieb, argued that allegations of corporate misconduct and misuse of company funds are “only embarrassing if they’re true.”
Gottlieb further noted that The Stronach group has not categorically denied the existence of documents related to settlements. That suggests such payments were made, he argued.
In an interview with the CBC, parts of which were aired this week, Frank Stronach claimed his accusers are pursuing the cases against him to take his money.
This is a corrected story: A previous version incorrectly identified Frank Stronach as Selena Stronach’s father in para 2