Awaiting sex crimes trials, billionaire Frank Stronach in Austria for a TV appearance

CBC

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On June 5, Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach was doing what has preoccupied him for years: hawking his economic ideas in front of the camera.
But this was not one of his regular speeches at his Aurora, Ont., restaurant or at some Canadian business gala. The 92-year-old, who is to stand trial in Toronto and Newmarket, Ont., next year for more than a dozen alleged sex crimes, gave his economic stump speech an ocean away, in Austria, on a current affairs news program.
Stronach, who had to surrender his passport to the courts when he was arrested in June 2024, has been in the country of his birth for three weeks, CBC News has learned.
Court documents obtained by CBC News show that Stronach's bail conditions were quietly altered on May 21, granting him the return of his passport and ability to travel from May 24 to June 14.
The section of the document set aside to provide reasons why a bail condition should be changed contains only a single sentence with no further explanation: "To allow Mr. Stronach to travel to Austria."
The change to Stronach's bail conditions, which were requested by his Toronto lawyer, Leora Shemesh, was approved by assistant Crown attorney Jelena Vlacic. The alteration did not require a hearing before a judge, because the Crown did not object.
Vlacic confirmed in an interview that she consented to the change.
"I'm not in a position to sort of make any comments," she said when asked why she agreed.
Not unusual to grant passport request: lawyer
Although Stronach was required to surrender his passport last year, his bail conditions do not mention any other restrictions on travel, a common feature, said Ottawa criminal lawyer Michael Spratt.
"Bail is not intended to be punitive," he told CBC News in a Friday interview. "An accused person is presumed innocent."
Spratt said the primary reason a court orders the surrender of a passport is to prevent an accused person from fleeing the country. While someone of Stronach's wealth has the means to leave, Spratt said that is not the only consideration at hand.
"If someone, say, suddenly moved a lot of assets into that country, or bought a home there, or bought a one-way ticket to a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty, the Crown might take a much harder look at that," said Spratt, who is not part of the Stronach case.
If those sorts of conditions don't exist, the Crown is likely to grant the return of a passport, he said.
Spratt said in a case like Stronach's, where a high-profile person is facing multiple criminal charges, the release of a passport will raise some eyebrows. But it is not unusual for such a request to be granted.
Shemesh, in an emailed statement to CBC News, said the paperwork was a "formality."
"He is presumed innocent. He has no criminal record. He maintains his innocence and enjoys the same freedoms we all do."
'A disappointing double standard for wealthy'
Stronach is a well-known political and business figure in Austria. Aside from the fame and wealth he garnered from leading the Ontario-based auto-parts giant Magna for decades, he once ran his own political party in Austria. Called Team Stronach, the party had limited electoral success in 2013 but was a thing of the past by 2014.
He surrendered his passport at the courthouse in Brampton, Ont., on June 7, 2024. Stronach, 91 at the time, was arrested and charged with sexual assault, rape and forcible confinement in cases involving 10 women dating back decades.
By October 2024, his charge sheet ballooned to 18 criminal counts.
Stronach has denied all of the charges against him, calling the allegations made by the women "lies."
He now faces two trials. Twelve of the charges against him will be heard in a Toronto courtroom starting on Nov. 16, 2026. The remaining charges will be tried in York Region, with a jury trial scheduled to begin on June 1, 2026.
CBC News reached out to several of the women who allege Stronach assaulted them. They declined to comment or could not be reached on Friday.
"I'm baffled by Frank Stronach's presence in Austria. It was reported that he had surrendered his passport," said 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.
Last year, Boon spoke to Fifth Estate reporter Mark Kelley about her uncomfortable sexual experience with Stronach, which is not part of any of the criminal cases the former auto-parts magnate is facing.
"It was a horrible abuse of power," she told Kelley.
"This extravagant trip suggests a disappointing double standard for wealthy defendants of serious crimes," she said Friday of Stronach's recent trip to Austria.
However, Spratt said it is not uncommon for passports to be returned to people facing a criminal trial. Sometimes it is for a medical or family emergency, he said, and other times for something as simple as a vacation.
Requests to change bail are also common in high-profile cases, including sex crime trials.
In January 2014, then-CBC Radio host Jian Ghomeshi faced seven sexual assault charges, for which he was later acquitted. He, too, had to surrender his passport, and his bail conditions required him to live with his mother. The Crown later agreed to modify his bail, which included the return of his passport.
But former fashion mogul Peter Nygard, currently serving 11 years in prison after being found guilty of four counts of sexual assault, was denied changes to his bail in 2024 because a judge said he presented a flight risk.