Ontario judge rules out jail sentence for billionaire businessman Frank Stronach

Thursday’s hearing began with a statement from the complainant, who relayed the lasting effects of the 1977 encounter.

The woman, who cannot be identified under a standard publication ban, described feeling “ambushed” and “overpowered” by Stronach in his apartment, an experience she said shattered her sense of security and her trust in a man with whom she’d had a friendly relationship.

“My sense of safety in social settings was destroyed. This feeling of apprehension is ongoing,” she said.

“Recovering one’s comfort with people requires time and resilience, and it may never be complete.”

During trial, the woman testified she met Stronach at Rooney’s, the popular restaurant and nighttime complex he owned at the time, and agreed to accompany him to his apartment one evening after they’d had dinner together.

Once they were in the home, Stronach briefly disappeared, she testified. Then, she was pushed over the arm of an armchair and Stronach lifted up her skirt, she said. She told the court she could feel his erect penis against her underwear as if he were trying to penetrate them but she didn’t know if he had taken his clothes off.

The woman said she eventually stood up, grabbed her coat and purse and left without anyone saying a word.

At the time of the encounter, indecent assault still existed as a charge and was an indictable offence that carried a sentence of up to five years in prison, prosecutors said. It was then folded into the offence of sexual assault, which was created in 1983.

The Crown and the defence spent the day arguing what they believed was appropriate sentence for Stronach.

Prosecutors sought a sentence of six months behind bars for Stronach as well as an order to add him to the sex-offender registry for 10 years.

While decades have passed since the offence, “our ultimate submission is that people must be held to account for their conduct or else the court would in their sentencing decisions provide incentives for people to evade responsibility for their conduct for years,” prosecutor Jelena Vlacic said.

The “sudden and disorienting” nature of the indecent assault and the fact that it had an enduring impact on the complainant are aggravating factors in the case, as is the woman’s vulnerability due her 20-year age gap with Stronach, Vlacic said.

Stronach’s lack of criminal record before the offence and his role as a high-profile business leader who for decades represented one of Canada’s biggest success stories are among the mitigating factors, she said.

Vlacic argued, however, that the court should give limited weight to character reference letters from former employees and other supporters who state they never saw Stronach behave inappropriately toward women.

“It’s not mitigating that he did not engage in inappropriate conduct in public view of many witnesses,” she said, noting sexual offences often take place in private.

Stronach’s defence lawyer, Leora Shemesh, argued the Crown’s position was “excessive” and imprisoning her client would do “absolutely nothing for society.”

The defence is asking for an absolute discharge and no registry order, arguing Stronach’s actions amount to the “least serious” offence on the spectrum of sexual assault considering no body parts were exposed and there was no touching of skin or attempt to prevent the complainant from leaving.

Stronach has otherwise led an “unblemished life” with a long record of accomplishments and philanthropy, and has endured a “punitive” prosecution in the final chapters of his life, his lawyer argued.

“His name and reputation has been literally dragged through the mud in media, in television, in print, in social media,” while his name has been removed from parks, hospital wings and other facilities, Shemesh said.

“Whatever punishment the Ministry of the Attorney General is attempting to garner, that punishment has already been meted out,” she argued.

“I’m not detracting from the actual offence or the conviction but that single incident from 50 year ago cannot detract, dismiss, or destroy a full life of service.”

Thursday’s hearing took place even as prosecutors are challenging the judge’s decision to declare a rare post-verdict mistrial on Stronach’s sexual assault conviction.

Stronach was found guilty in June of both indecent assault and sexual assault, which relate to separate allegations brought by two of the women in his Toronto criminal trial.

Weeks later, Molloy granted the mistrial on the sexual assault conviction after emails from the complainant’s lawyer in a separate civil case were presented in court.

Stronach’s lawyer argued those emails told a story that was inconsistent with the woman’s testimony in the criminal trial. At the time, Shemesh told The Canadian Press that the court did not hear from the complainant before the judge made her decision.

The Crown’s appeal argues the guilty verdict on the sexual assault charge should be restored and the case sent back to Superior Court for sentencing.

Stronach initially faced 12 charges related to allegations brought by seven complainants and dating as far back as the late 1970s. The Crown later withdrew one charge and agreed Stronach should be found not guilty on four more.

Soon after, Molloy said she couldn’t convict Stronach on two charges related to one complainant whose evidence she deemed unreliable.

Five charges related to three complainants remained, and Stronach was found guilty of two, until the mistrial was granted.

He is set to stand trial before a jury in Newmarket, Ont., next year in a sexual assault case involving six complainants.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2026.

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Ontario judge rules out jail sentence for billionaire businessman Frank Stronach

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