On June 5, Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach was doing what has preoccupied him for years: hawking his financial concepts in entrance of the digicam.
However this was not one in all his common speeches at his Aurora, Ont., restaurant or at some Canadian enterprise gala. The 92-year-old, who’s to face trial in Toronto and Newmarket, Ont., subsequent yr for greater than a dozen alleged intercourse crimes, gave his financial stump speech an ocean away, in Austria, on a present affairs information program.
Stronach, who needed to give up his passport to the courts when he was arrested in June 2024, has been within the nation of his beginning for 3 weeks, CBC Information has discovered.
Courtroom paperwork obtained by CBC Information present that Stronach’s bail circumstances have been quietly altered on Could 21, granting him the return of his passport and skill to journey from Could 24 to June 14.
The part of the doc put aside to offer the reason why a bail situation needs to be modified accommodates solely a single sentence with no additional clarification: “To permit Mr. Stronach to journey to Austria.”
The change to Stronach’s bail circumstances, which have been requested by his Toronto lawyer, Leora Shemesh, was permitted by assistant Crown legal professional Jelena Vlacic. The alteration didn’t require a listening to earlier than a decide, as a result of the Crown didn’t object.
Vlacic confirmed in an interview that she consented to the change.
“I am not ready to kind of make any feedback,” she mentioned when requested why she agreed.
Common to grant passport request: lawyer
Though Stronach was required to give up his passport final yr, his bail circumstances don’t point out every other restrictions on journey, a typical characteristic, mentioned Ottawa felony lawyer Michael Spratt.
“Bail isn’t meant to be punitive,” he instructed CBC Information in a Friday interview. “An accused individual is presumed harmless.”
Spratt mentioned the first motive a courtroom orders the give up of a passport is to forestall an accused individual from fleeing the nation. Whereas somebody of Stronach’s wealth has the means to depart, Spratt mentioned that’s not the one consideration at hand.
“If somebody, say, all of the sudden moved loads of belongings into that nation, or purchased a house there, or purchased a one-way ticket to a rustic that does not have an extradition treaty, the Crown would possibly take a a lot tougher take a look at that,” mentioned Spratt, who isn’t a part of the Stronach case.
Stronach, centre, leaves the Ontario Courtroom of Justice in Toronto together with his lawyer, Leora Shemesh, proper, on April 11. He faces 18 felony fees, together with sexual assault, rape and forcible confinement, in circumstances involving 10 girls relationship again a long time. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
If these kinds of circumstances do not exist, the Crown is more likely to grant the return of a passport, he mentioned.
Spratt mentioned in a case like Stronach’s, the place a high-profile individual is dealing with a number of felony fees, the discharge of a passport will increase some eyebrows. However it’s not uncommon for such a request to be granted.
Shemesh, in an emailed assertion to CBC Information, mentioned the paperwork was a “formality.”
“He’s presumed harmless. He has no felony report. He maintains his innocence and enjoys the identical freedoms all of us do.”
‘A disappointing double commonplace for rich’
Stronach is a widely known political and enterprise determine in Austria. Apart from the celebrity and wealth he garnered from main the Ontario-based auto-parts large Magna for many years, he as soon as ran his personal political social gathering in Austria. Referred to as Crew Stronach, the social gathering had restricted electoral success in 2013 however was a factor of the previous by 2014.
He surrendered his passport on the courthouse in Brampton, Ont., on June 7, 2024. Stronach, 91 on the time, was arrested and charged with sexual assault, rape and forcible confinement in circumstances involving 10 girls relationship again a long time.
By October 2024, his cost sheet ballooned to 18 felony counts.
Stronach has denied all the fees towards him, calling the allegations made by the ladies “lies.”
He now faces two trials. Twelve of the costs towards him might be heard in a Toronto courtroom beginning on Nov. 16, 2026. The remaining fees might be tried in York Area, with a jury trial scheduled to start on June 1, 2026.
CBC Information reached out to a number of of the ladies who allege Stronach assaulted them. They declined to remark or couldn’t be reached on Friday.
Jane Boon is a former Magna intern who says she had a sexual encounter with Frank Stronach in 1986, when she was 19. (CBC)
“I am baffled by Frank Stronach’s presence in Austria. It was reported that he had surrendered his passport,” mentioned Jane Boon, a former Magna intern who says she had a sexual encounter with Stronach in 1986, when she was 19 and he was 54.
Final yr, Boon spoke to Fifth Property reporter Mark Kelley about her uncomfortable sexual expertise with Stronach, which isn’t a part of any of the felony circumstances the previous auto-parts magnate is dealing with.
“It was a horrible abuse of energy,” she instructed Kelley.
“This extravagant journey suggests a disappointing double commonplace for rich defendants of significant crimes,” she mentioned Friday of Stronach’s current journey to Austria.
Nevertheless, Spratt mentioned it’s not unusual for passports to be returned to individuals dealing with a felony trial. Typically it’s for a medical or household emergency, he mentioned, and different instances for one thing so simple as a trip.
Entrance Burner26:59Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach faces slew of intercourse assault fees
Requests to vary bail are additionally widespread in high-profile circumstances, together with intercourse crime trials.
In January 2014, then-CBC Radio host Jian Ghomeshi confronted seven sexual assault fees, for which he was later acquitted. He, too, needed to give up his passport, and his bail circumstances required him to dwell together with his mom. The Crown later agreed to change his bail, which included the return of his passport.
However former vogue mogul Peter Nygard, presently serving 11 years in jail after being discovered responsible of 4 counts of sexual assault, was denied adjustments to his bail in 2024 as a result of a decide mentioned he offered a flight danger.
CBC Information reached out to Stronach for touch upon Friday however acquired no reply.
