TORONTO — Frank Stronach will not go to jail for the crime of indecent assault, a judge said in surprise final comments at his sentencing hearing.
asserted
judge → go → hearing
Judge Anne Molloy of the Ontario Superior Court said Stronach should return to hear his sentence in December.
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Stronach → say → December
It will not be custodial but still could involve conditions on his freedom.
uncertain
It → involve → freedom
The news followed a dramatic day of argument Thursday in which the Crown argued the 94-year-old autoparts billionaire should go to jail for six months, surrender a sample of his DNA, and be listed on Canada’s sex offender registry for 10 years.
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billionaire → follow → years
“Only a real deprivation of liberty will do,” said prosecutor Jelena Vlacic.
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Vlacic → do → liberty
Stronach’s defence lawyer argued that he should be granted an absolute discharge, which means no conviction would be entered on the charge of indecent assault for which he was found guilty in June, and there would be no conditions on his release.
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he → argue → release
Stronach was originally charged with 12 offences involving seven women, but all other charges failed for various reasons.
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charges → charge → reasons
The victim, now in her 70s, gave a short statement from the witness stand on Thursday, the only evidence called in the day-long hearing that was dominated by technical argument over precedent cases and the purposes of sentencing.
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that → give → sentencing
I felt ambushed, I felt overpowered, I felt my physical privacy was violated without my consent.
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privacy → feel → consent
My body and my sense of security were instantly injured.
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body → injure → security
My self reliance was wounded when by confidence in the defendants character was shattered.
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confidence → wound → character
In her testimony earlier this year, the woman (whose identity is protected) testified that she knew Stronach socially and was with him at the Toronto bar he owned, Rooney’s.
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he → protect → bar
She accepted his invitation to a nearby apartment, where Stronach abruptly pushed her face down over the arm of a chair and pressed himself against her from behind while lifting her skirt.
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Stronach → accept → skirt
There was no direct contact with her skin and both remained clothed.
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both → be → skin
She described it as “bizarre” and “pathetic.”
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She → describe → it
“I felt I deserved an apology, I was upset when none was forthcoming,” she said in her victim impact statement.
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she → feel → statement
Both sides discussed comparable cases.
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sides → discuss → cases
There was argument over the Crown’s comparison of Stronach to Peter Nygard, 85, the fashion mogul who was sentenced in 2024 to 11 years in prison over historical sex assault charges.
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who → be → charges
Shemesh objected to this and other comparisons of Stronach to perpetrators of outrageous sexual crimes, such as home invasion sexual assaults and repeated predatory behaviour against vulnerable victims.
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Shemesh → object → victims
Despite Stronach’s wealth and fame, the defence lawyer told the judge this case is not like Nygard, or Bill Cosby, or Harvey Weinstein.
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case → tell → Nygard
But the Crown highlighted Nygard to emphasize the point that Stronach’s advanced age should not necessarily work in his favour.
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age → highlight → favour
She quoted the judge in Nygard’s case: “Were I to punish him less harshly than his moral blameworthiness calls for because he is now an elderly man, it would, in effect, validate the immunity that wealth and power have given him.
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wealth → quote → him
It would significantly devalue the importance of denunciation and deterrence.
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It → devalue → denunciation
It would send the message that if you are rich and powerful and your victims are vulnerable…, you can escape accountability if you can hold off the day of judgment long enough.
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you → send → judgment
That is exactly the wrong message for the court to send.
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court → send → ?
Although age is a factor that I must consider, there is a limit to the amount of weight I will give it.”
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I → consider → it
Shemesh said she was unable to find any Canadian case of a 90-year-old person being sentenced at all, let alone sentenced to jail time.
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person → say → time
She said six months in jail would be “excessive” for a man who has “truly earned his place in Canadian history as a visionary” and has been “determined, over the course of his life, to really better society.”
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who → say → society
Stronach is “quite a simple man,” she said, devoted to his children and his work, motivated by “goodness, kindness and charity.”
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she → say → goodness
“He has learned to love simplicity,” she said.
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she → learn → simplicity
Shemesh urged Molloy to find that Stronach has already been punished enough by the process of being charged and tried in the public glare.
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Stronach → urge → glare
His name has been “dragged through the mud,” Shemesh said, and seen many of his lifetime honours revoked.
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many → drag → honours
The Aurora Sports Hall of Fame removed his name, the Southlake Health Frank Stronach Cancer Centre removed his name, the City of Newmarket, Ont., renamed its Frank Stronach Park, as did a recreation centre in Aurora, Ont., and most “astonishing and shameful,” Shemesh said, was that the Automotive Hall of Fame had indicated it wants to revoke his induction.
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it → remove → induction
Prosecutor Vlacic said this public reckoning should not minimize his sentence.
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reckoning → say → sentence
“When you have a lot, you have a lot to lose,” Vlacic said.
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Vlacic → have → lot
It also emerged that, during his trial in March, Stronach was refused entry to the United States on his way to Tampa, Fla., on the grounds of having outstanding charges against him.
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Stronach → emerge → him
“Whatever punishment the Ministry of the Attorney General was trying to garner, that punishment has already been meted out,” Shemesh said.
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Shemesh → try → General
She said her client has engaged with this process with “hope and determination,” but the experience has “chipped away at him mentally” and “affected him cognitively” such that it was “difficult to watch.”
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it → say → him
Stronach is also charged with other sexual offences involving six women, including as recently as 2024, in a separate matter that is not yet set for trial.
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that → charge → trial
That cannot be used against him here because he is presumed innocent, but it came up in the hearing.
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it → use → hearing
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
