Frank Stronach’s lawyer suggests final complainant was ‘excited’ to go home with him

TORONTO — A defence lawyer for Frank Stronach suggested Tuesday that a woman went back to his “bachelor pad” after a dinner date decades ago because she was excited that a wealthy man wanted to take her home.

Defence lawyer Leora Shemesh began cross-examining the woman, who is the seventh and final complainant to testify at the billionaire businessman’s sexual assault trial, after some brief legal arguments.

In a 2024 statement to police, the complainant said she had agreed to go to Stronach’s waterfront apartment after dinner to have a nightcap and potentially talk about business, court heard.

“What I’m going to suggest to you is you don’t go back to Mr. Stronach’s unit with him as a 24-year-old secretary to talk about business or finance,” Shemesh said Tuesday.

The woman couldn’t recall if they had, in fact, discussed business, but said it was the only thing they could have talked about because it was their only “common ground.”

“What is also common is that you are a 24-year old who’s very excited about a wealthy man taking you home,” Shemesh replied.

The complainant, now in her late 60s, said she didn’t see how that was relevant.

“It doesn’t matter if I was excited and it doesn’t matter if I talked to him about Genghis Khan or finance or business or anything. What matters is he raped me,” she said.

“What matters is why you went back to his unit,” Shemesh continued.

Stronach, the founder and former CEO of the auto parts manufacturer Magna International, faces multiple charges related to alleged incidents that took place as far back as the 1970s. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The woman began testifying Monday, laying out her account of an encounter she said took place in 1982 or 1983, though she agreed under cross-examination it could have been as early as 1980.

She’d met Stronach at Rooney’s, the restaurant and nightlife venue he owned, and accepted his invitation to go out to dinner, she said. He picked her up at her apartment building on a weeknight about a week later then drove to a waterfront restaurant, she said.

After dinner, Stronach asked if she wanted to get a nightcap at his condo, which was in a building connected to the restaurant, she said.

Once inside, he kissed her on the couch but she rebuffed him, she said. Stronach then led her to a den-like room and pulled her onto a cot, she said. The woman said she reluctantly went with him, thinking she could manage the situation by giving him a few “smooches” before going home.

At some point, Stronach started trying to hike up her dress, and the woman told him no, she said.

Stronach then tore her pantyhose at the crotch, and the woman realized she couldn’t stop him from doing whatever he wanted, she told the court. He unzipped his pants and penetrated her as she sobbed quietly, she said.

During cross-examination Tuesday, Shemesh asked the woman whether she had given Stronach any indication of what she was thinking on the way to the den.

The complainant said she hadn’t, at least not that she could recall.

“It’s fair to say that you and he actually have no discussions on the way to the bedroom and that you do recall that,” Shemesh suggested.

“He seemed pretty intent on getting there,” the woman said.

“And so at any time, do you drop his hand and turn around and go back to the main room?” the defence lawyer continued.

“I do not.”

Cross-examination is set to continue Tuesday afternoon.

On Monday, prosecutors sought to withdraw a sexual assault charge related to a complainant who testified last week, but the defence argued he should be found not guilty on that count instead.

Court is expected to revisit the issue once the Crown has finished presenting its evidence.

Prosecutors last week withdrew a charge of forcible confinement related to the same complainant, who was the sixth to testify in the case.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2026.

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press