Frank Stronach, the auto parts billionaire accused of preying on young women at the Toronto nightclub he owned in the 1980s and pressuring them into his condo for sex against their will, is guilty of one count of sexual assault and one of indecent assault over historical claims involving two women, a judge ruled this morning.

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Stronach, 93, left court in downtown Toronto without saying anything or displaying any emotion. His lawyer Leora Shemesh told reporters Stronach had been convicted of the two least serious “minor” offences of those he was charged with, and noted that in both cases both he and his victim remained fully clothed. She said Stronach has always been “faithful” in the justice system, and said they have not yet had time to review the 82-page written decision with an eye to a possible appeal. Shemesh encouraged reporters to read the decision and not just use a sensational headline.

Frank Stronach convicted of two ‘minor’ offences at Toronto sex assault trial, his lawyer says Back to video

“He really is a national treasure and should be treated as such,” Shemesh said.

Stronach still faces another sexual assault trial involving six different complainants in York Region, with more recent allegations, from 1988 to as recently as 2024. Jury selection is scheduled to begin next May.

Stronach will be back in this court for sentencing arguments in September. The maximum sentence for sexual assault is ten years.

In this trial, Stronach was originally charged with 12 alleged sexual offences involving seven women, including indecent assault, forcible confinement, and the outdated charge of rape, a crime replaced in 1983 by the Criminal Code section on sexual assault. He is not guilty on the other ten charges.

Jane Boon, who is suing Stronach for sexual assault over events broadly similar to those alleged at this trial, but who is not herself part of any criminal proceedings, said in an interview outside the court that it was a “relief” to know that two women met the high standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

“But I also believe the five other women, that their voices were heard,” Boon said. She said the verdicts show Stronach’s behaviour was, as she has claimed in her lawsuit, “exploitative and coercive” against young women.

The identities of the two victims are protected by a publication ban.

The victim of the sexual assault was a server at Rooney’s, Stronach’s bar near Yonge and St. Clair in central Toronto.

In 1983, Judge Anne Molloy wrote in her reasons, this victim “turned to Mr. Stronach for help when she was fired. He took her out for dinner and afterwards to his nearby condo on the waterfront. She became uneasy and said she wanted to leave. While he was helping her on with her coat near the door, Mr. Stronach ran his hands up and down along her breasts and hips without her consent.”

The victim of the indecent assault, now 74, was a 25-year-old legal secretary at the time of the offence in 1977.

As Molloy wrote, she knew Stronach from Rooney’s. “After dinner there, she agreed to go to a nearby apartment with him. He came up from behind her, flipped her forwards over the upholstered arm of a chair, lifted her skirt, and ground his groin into her pelvic area over her panties. There is no evidence that he took his penis out of his pants. At law, this cannot be attempted rape, as alleged in Count 5, but it is indecent assault under Count 6.”

Indecent assault is a historical offence that, like rape, was replaced in 1983 by the Criminal Code section on sexual assault.

Both victims contacted police in 2024 when separate charges against Stronach were publicly announced by police.

The victim of the indecent assault was one of the complainants who got into tense exchanges during the trial with Stronach’s defence counsel Leora Shemesh. Molloy commented on this, calling her “exceptionally combative” and agreeing with Shemesh’s characterization of this witness as “downright mean, rude, impolite, and ill mannered.”

Molloy said this attitude was “completely unnecessary” and that she “did herself no favours in taking the tone she did,” which made it harder for Molloy to assess her evidence.

“However, after careful consideration, I find that she was telling the truth about the central narrative of what she said happened between her and Mr. Stronach in that apartment,” Molloy wrote.

“Frankly, it was kind of bizarre,” this victim testified. “It was kind of pathetic…. I have to say I felt betrayed…. I freed myself from this bizarre event and I gathered up my things and I left.”

Molloy also commented in her reasons on the policy of the Peel Regional Police, which investigated this case, “to ‘believe the victim’ in a sexual assault complaint and to not follow the usual formalities in taking a statement. I applaud police forces for creating more hospitable environments, more informed officers, and more sensitive interview techniques…. However I have no understanding of why such witnesses would not be advised of the importance of telling the truth.”

“I am not suggesting for a moment that police should be skeptical about the veracity of sexual assault complainants generally,” she continued. But she quoted a decision of her own ten years ago, in the early years of the MeToo movement, when she wrote: “Although the slogan ‘Believe the victim’ has become popularized of late, it has no place in a criminal trial. To approach a trial with the assumption that the complainant is telling the truth is the equivalent of imposing a presumption of guilt.”

The same principle applies to police investigations, Molloy wrote, and she said she hopes Peel Regional Police engage in a “thoughtful analysis and internal review of these policies.”

“I query whether an accused without the financial resources available to Mr. Stronach would have been able to mount a defence to these charges as effectively as he was able to do through the employment of private detectives,” Molloy wrote.

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