An Ontario judge has found Frank Stronach guilty of indecent assault and sexual assault involving two women in his high-profile trial, though other charges against the Canadian businessman did not end in convictions.
Stronach is the founder and former head of Magna International, a major Canadian company that makes auto parts.
He was charged with 18 offences involving 12 complainants by Peel Regional Police in 2024. Those charges were split into two trials and related to alleged incidents of sexual assault spanning the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s.
At the time, Stronach lived in Newmarket, Ont., with his wife and children. He was around 45 years old at the time of the earliest alleged incident, with various business ventures, including auto parts, horse racing and nightclubs.
The billionaire, who was born in Austria, rose to prominence and wealth after creating Magna in a rented garage in the 1950s, eventually turning it into a multinational conglomerate.
Stronach, now 93, pleaded not guilty to 12 charges related to seven complainants that were heard in Toronto beginning early in 2026.
As the trial progressed, prosecutors withdrew five of the charges, related to three of the women.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy, who is presiding over the case, then said she “couldn’t possibly” convict the businessman based on the evidence of one of the remaining complainants, whose testimony she deemed unreliable.
That left Stronach with five charges related to three complainants.
On Friday morning, Molloy found the billionaire guilty of one count of indecent assault and another of sexual assault. The two charges relate to two different women.
“I am finding Mr. Stronach guilty of two counts and not guilty on all the rest,” Molloy told the court at the beginning of her decision.
The indecent assault guilty decision relates to a legal secretary in 1977, and the sexual assault involved a waitress and took place in the 1980s.
“This was a long and emotionally charged trial,” Molloy said at the end of her decision, thanking the legal teams involved for their work.
Indecent assault
The first count Stronach was found guilty of relates to an incident of indecent assault involving a 25-year-old legal secretary, who encountered Stronach at one of the nightclubs he owned a stake in.
Molloy’s decision said the pair met by chance in the fall of 1977 at Rooney’s
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The woman in that case said she would stop at the nightclub two to three nights a week to socialize with friends. She said she knew Stronach owned the business and was friendly with him.
She said one evening in 1977, she went to dinner with Stronach, who then invited her back to his apartment. The woman said she was taken back to an apartment in the Balliol and Mount Pleasant area.
Stronach was charged with attempted rape and indecent assault relating to the events that night.
When they got to the apartment, the woman said Stronach disappeared for a few minutes. She said he then came up behind her and pushed her over a chair, pulled up her skirt and rubbed his groin against her.
The woman said after two or three minutes, she was able to stand up, put on her coat and leave the apartment. According to Molloy’s recounting of the trial testimony, she said Stronach looked expressionless and didn’t try to stop her leaving.
The charge of attempted rape was withdrawn by the Crown when the witness conceded during the trial that she didn’t know if Stronach was clothed during the incident.
Molloy concluded Stronach was guilty of indecent assault.
Sexual assault
The sexual assault conviction also involved Rooney’s, several years after the incident described by the legal secretary.
That charge involves a woman who met Stronach through her work at the business, eventually being invited to eat at a restaurant with the billionaire.
At dinner, the woman said Stronach was polite and appeared to care for her and her employment with his business.
After the meal, the woman said Stronach invited her to see his nearby waterfront condo, promising his driver — who the woman knew — would take her home.
Inside the condo, the woman said she felt the atmosphere change and decided to leave. She said when she said she had to go, Stronach got her coat, but then ran his hands over her breasts and buttocks, which she described as “fondling.”
The woman said she left and was taken home by Stronach’s driver.
“I am satisfied on this evidence that all components required to constitute sexual assault are proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” Molloy wrote in her decision
“Her mere agreement to come to his condo does not mean she was consenting to be touched, particularly after she expressed a wish to leave.”
Stronach’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for September.
He will also face trial on other charges in Newmarket, Ont., next year.
— with files from Global News’ Catherine McDonald and The Canadian Press
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