TORONTO — A woman’s encounter with Frank Stronach decades ago was consensual, the businessman’s lawyer suggested Tuesday as she questioned the seventh and final complainant in his Toronto sexual assault case.
Leora Shemesh’s suggestion during cross-examination appeared to stun the complainant, who initially only responded by saying “oh my God” three times with increasing emphasis.
When the defence lawyer repeated her suggestion, the complainant replied: “Absolutely not.”
“I’m going to say to you: you weren’t there that night,” the woman continued.
“If you think that was a consensual act — having your pantyhose ripped, being held down and penetrated — if you thing that’s consensual, wow … It’s shocking.”
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 businessman, who is 93, was charged with 12 offences related to seven complainants, but prosecutors have since dropped one count of forcible confinement and are seeking to withdraw a count of sexual assault after determining there is no longer a reasonable prospect of conviction.
Both of those charges relate to the same woman, who was the sixth complainant to testify. None of the complainants can be identified under a standard publication ban.
The defence has argued Stronach should be found not guilty on the sexual assault count. Court is expected to revisit the issue once the Crown has finished presenting its evidence.
The woman testifying Tuesday was questioned on her intentions and communication throughout her date with Stronach, as well what she told her friends about the encounter afterward.
In a 2024 statement to police, the complainant said she had agreed to go to Stronach’s waterfront apartment after their dinner date 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, prompting the woman to say that maybe she was just being “polite.”
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 hotel 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.”
Nor did she mention wanting to go home at that point, she agreed.
Shemesh also suggested the woman later told a friend that she believed she was dating Stronach, which the complainant rejected.
“I don’t believe I would have told anybody that I am dating that person after what happened,” the woman said.
Shemesh asked the woman why she hadn’t called her friend to pick her up, noting the friend had previously acted as a designated driver and come to get her after a night out.
The woman said it didn’t occur to her. When Shemesh suggested that was because she didn’t need to be “rescued,” the woman said it was because she was “traumatized.”
The complainant also faced questions regarding possible civil litigation and the lawyers she had consulted before reaching out to police.
In a meeting with prosecutors last year, the woman mentioned that she didn’t want to be forgotten if Stronach died, the defence said before asking if she meant by his estate.
“It’s not about the money, it’s about not being forgotten as a victim,” the woman said, adding she hasn’t decided yet whether to file a civil action.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2026.
Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
