An Ontario judge’s looming decision on whether to compel the Stronach Group to disclose evidence of any coverup of sexual misconduct may add yet a new dimension to a deepening scandal surrounding the multinational’s billionaire founder.
The civil court case also offers a peek into the deep divisions at the heart of a family feud involving auto parts tycoon Frank Stronach’s adult children and grandchildren.
According to at least one longtime observer, the conflict bears a resemblance to the infighting involving another famous clan.
“There are a lot of parallels to the fictional family in Succession,” said Dimitry Anastakis, a University of Toronto professor and business historian.
The popular HBO drama series portrayed members of the mega-rich Roy family — usually in lavish surroundings — as they battled for control of a media conglomerate led by an aging patriarch.
Like Logan Roy’s fictional rags-to-riches tale, the Austrian-born Stronach built a successful business empire after immigrating to Canada. But recent criminal accusations threaten to consume the 91-year-old’s legacy.
In June, Peel Regional Police, near Toronto, laid 13 charges against Stronach, including sexual assault, rape and forcible confinement. The charges stem from alleged incidents involving 10 accusers, from 1977 to this past February.
In an interview with CBC’s The Fifth Estate earlier this week, Stronach denied wrongdoing. He said he would prove the criminal allegations amounted to “lies” and suggested that the complainants were motivated by money.
Still, the charges — and media reports suggesting corporate assets may have helped facilitate sexual misconduct — prompted one of Stronach’s granddaughters, Selena Stronach, to probe for answers.
Granddaughter takes on Stronach Group
Already locked in a long-standing legal battle over family riches, the lawyers for 23-year-old Selena filed a new motion, alleging “it is likely that records exist which reveal a pattern of misconduct by Mr. Stronach that includes corporate knowledge and, potentially, facilitation and coverup.”
Frank Stronach initially made a fortune from Magna International, the auto parts manufacturer he launched in 1957. He later spun off subsidiaries specializing in horse racing and entertainment that now fall under the Stronach Group. Frank Stronach is no longer directly involved in either firm.
Selena Stronach’s lawyers recently asked a judge to order Stronach Group executives, including her aunt, Belinda, to hand over any documents — such as non-disclosure agreements and payment records — related to sexual misconduct complaints against Frank Stronach.
An Ontario court is hearing arguments in a civil suit filed by billionaire Frank Stronach’s 23-year-old granddaughter, who is seeking access to company documents related to sexual misconduct allegations against Stronach, and to possible hush-money payments.
The motion is part of a broader civil suit brought by Selena and her father, Andrew Stronach, who claim Belinda and others have mismanaged the family fortune. The case is scheduled to go to trial next month.
Anastakis, the business historian, said the civil suit is about more than the family’s multibillion-dollar fortune.
“I think at stake is as much legacy issues as it is financial futures and fortunes,” he said, adding the second- and third-generation Stronachs are likely keen to distance themselves from the patriarch’s tarnished reputation.
Accounts detailing the youngest Stronach’s lifestyle vary.
As of 2021, Selena shared a 15,000-square-foot home in Aurora, Ont., north of Toronto, with her mother, Kathleen, on the Stronach farm, where Selena also kept cattle. According to court filings, she blamed Belinda for cutting off funding for renovations, which left the residence with incomplete plumbing, loose wiring and unfinished walls and without “a functional kitchen for years.”
Belinda Stronach’s lawyers called the description of Selena’s living arrangements “absurd.” They said the young woman had used a family trust to buy a luxury home in Vancouver when she was 19.
According to a 2019 article in Toronto Life magazine, Selena’s lawyers once acknowledged she was “raised in an environment in which no event, experience, consumer purchase or travel has been denied.”
Court documents suggest Andrew Stronach “owns over 100 properties” in Canada and the United States.
WARNING: Video contains distressing details | As a woman accusing Frank Stronach of rape publicly details her allegations, the billionaire businessman speaks for the first time to CBC’s The Fifth Estate. Stronach says he has nothing to hide and that his accusers are after his money.
Stronachs let lawyers talk in court
On Thursday, at least 14 lawyers representing the family’s warring factions crowded into a downtown Toronto courtroom for an all-day hearing on Selena’s motion.
While Belinda’s children, equestrian Nicole Walker and globetrotting DJ Frank Walker, live relatively public lives, their cousin has shied away from the spotlight.
An online search reveals so few images of Selena, journalists in the courtroom on Thursday whispered to each other, wondering whether a young woman with dark hair in a back corner of the courtroom could be her.
It wasn’t. None of the Stronachs followed the proceedings in person.
The youngest Stronach’s lawyer even declined to say whether Selena could be seen in a photo taken last year at a company-owned thoroughbred horse-racing complex in Florida.
“I can neither confirm nor deny,” Matthew Gottlieb said when a reporter showed him the photo and asked whether the caption was correct in identifying his client.
Addressing Ontario Superior Court Justice Peter Osborne, Gottlieb insisted that if the Stronach Group paid to cover up complaints against the family patriarch, CEO Belinda Stronach and her predecessor, Alon Ossip, surely would have known.
Ossip’s lawyer, Mark Gelowitz, dismissed the claims as a “cascade of conjecture.”
“This is a tactical attempt by Selena to introduce these allegations against Belinda and Alon in order to embarrass them in a case that has attracted the attention of the media,” Gelowitz told the court.
Belinda Stronach — a former Conservative MP for Newmarket—Aurora who was once best known for crossing the floor in 2005 to join the Liberal cabinet — is no stranger to legal battles within the family.
In 2020, control of the Stronach fortune was split after she and her father settled a high-profile lawsuit pitting Belinda against her parents.
“I am glad that our disagreements have been resolved amongst ourselves,” Frank Stronach said in a statement at the time.
His wife of 60 years, Elfriede, died in March at the age of 80.
Reached by phone on Friday, Frank Stronach said he had no comment on the latest civil case involving his children and grandchildren.
“There will be a time when there’s more to say,” he added.