Austrian Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach has been arrested and charged with sexual assault in Canada.
Frank Stronach, above, made his fortune in auto components by means of Magna Worldwide earlier than launching the Stronach Group, which owns or operates a number of racetracks throughout the US. (Picture: Fortune)
Ontario’s Peel regional police mentioned in a press release the 91-year-old horse racing and auto-parts magnate was detained Friday and charged with rape, indecent assault on a feminine, sexual assault, and forcible confinement.
The fees relate to incidents which might be alleged to have occurred from the Nineteen Eighties to as just lately as 2023, police mentioned. Constable Tyler Bell instructed reporters that there was multiple alleged sufferer however declined to say precisely what number of.
Clearly, this can be a high-profile case,” Bell mentioned. “Our particular Victims Unit is certain to guard the victims and in doing so – that’s why we’re being imprecise.”
Stronach’s lawyer mentioned in a press release that his consumer “categorically denies the allegations of impropriety which have been introduced in opposition to him.”
Racing Empire
Stronach is the founder and former chairman of the Stronach Group, which owns thoroughbred racetracks, coaching facilities, and simulcast operations throughout the US.
The group’s property embrace California’s Santa Anita racetrack and Golden Gate Fields, which coincidentally closed on Sunday. Gulfstream Park in Florida, the Pimlico Racecourse (residence of the Preakness Stakes), the Laurel Racecourse, and Rosecroft Raceway, all in Maryland, are additionally Stronach properties.
Stronach has had little to do with the administration of the Stronach Group in recent times. His daughter, Belinda Stronach, is the present chairman, CEO, and president of the corporate, which now trades as 1/ST.
Price Billions
Austrian-born Stronach constructed up a machine store he based in 1957 into a world auto components enterprise, Magna Worldwide, which as soon as made a takeover bid for Chrysler, in addition to for Opel, the European arm of Basic Motors. At the moment, Magna is among the largest corporations in Canada and the largest auto components producer in North America.
In 2017, Stronach had an estimated internet price of C$3.06 billion (US$2.2 billion), in line with Canadian Enterprise.
Stronach has additionally dabbled in Austrian politics as an advocate of unfettered free-market liberalism.
Each Magna and the Stronach Group have declined to touch upon the fees.
Launched on Bail
In the meantime, police are interesting to members of the general public to return ahead if they’ve any related data.
Stronach has been launched on bail and can seem on the Ontario Courtroom of Justice in Brampton at a later date.
His lawyer, Brian Greenspan, mentioned Stronach seemed “ahead to the chance to completely reply to the fees and to keep up his legacy, each as a philanthropist and as an icon of the Canadian enterprise group.”
