Calls for accountability to break ‘force field’ of alleged enablers around billionaire Frank Stronach after sex assault claims

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    OTTAWA (CTV Network) — The two women who have spoken out about Frank Stronach’s alleged sexual misconduct are sparking calls for accountability from the billionaire’s alleged enablers, and a review of past police investigations.

The accounts of “Lee” and engineer-turned novelist Jane Boon, provide insight into the alleged protective infrastructure and pattern of behaviour of one of the wealthiest men in Canada.

They were young women, just past their teenage years when they were employed by Stronach in the two areas that drove his passions. Lee was hired as a groom for his racehorses on his private Beechwood farm as a 20-year old in 1980. Boon was a 19-year old engineering intern at Magna International in 1986 who started at the auto parts manufacturing plant after winning a lucrative scholarship sponsored by Stronach.

The case of “Lee,” whose real name is concealed by a court order, has resulted in criminal charges more than four decades after an alleged rape. Boon says that while Stronach’s alleged interactions with her were not illegal, they are in an ethical grey zone that Boon describes as a “force field” of complicity surrounding the auto parts magnate that “turned people blind.”

Stronach is accused of 13 sexual offences pertaining to 10 women. The first incident allegedly occurred in 1977, the most recent case was in February 2024.

A ‘set-up’

Forty-four years had passed before Lee recounted what she says happened the night of her alleged rape to a journalist. Looking back, Lee, who is now 65 years old, said it felt like a “set-up.”

“He was so important. I just shoveled manure,” she said in an interview with CTV News.

The seed of the incident was planted in a suggestion from her Beechwood co-workers to celebrate her birthday at Rooney’s, Stronach’s restaurant bar in downtown Toronto, so they could take advantage of staff discounts.

The night in July 1980 began with Stronach pouring her glasses of champagne, she says, then pulling her onto the dancefloor where he put his hands up her dress and ripped her pantyhose. Lee says it was disconcerting, alleging Stornach pulled her into a booth and continued groping her while carrying on a conversation with two other men who sat across from them. Later, she recalls waking up after several hours in a strange room. When her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she says, she could see her reflection in a mirror above the bed and felt Stronach having sex with her.

Last month, Peel Regional Police charged Stronach with rape and indecent assault in connection to Lee’s case more than four decades after the alleged incident. In that time, Stronach had turned from a millionaire to a billionaire. His philanthropic work was recognized with an Order of Canada in 1999 for founding an annual scholarship for post-secondary students and investing in future success stories. “He has demonstrated his conviction to advancing opportunities for young Canadians,” reads the entry listing him as a member.

Lee says her dreams to be a veterinarian and provide therapy for horses were derailed after the alleged incident.

“(The sexual assault) broke me,” said Lee who says she lost her way for many years. “I definitely think he should lose the Order of Canada.”

Stronach did not respond directly to a series of questions from CTV News about Lee’s claims and he has refused a request for an interview.

However in an interview with public broadcaster CBC, Stronach denied all allegations against him,insisted his accusers were lying, and that they were in it for the money.

Police must ‘explain’ delay: Lawyer

Lee has hired a civil litigator who specializes in getting victims compensation for sexual assault cases, but her lawyer Michael Wilchesky says his client has not directed him to launch a lawsuit. Instead, Lee sought his help after Peel Police contacted her to re-open a sexual assault complaint about Stronach she filed with the Toronto Police Service (TPS) nine years earlier. Peel investigators became interested in Lee’s case after another woman came forward with allegations against the Magna founder.

Her complaint to TPS didn’t result in charges in 2015, but did in 2024. Wilchesky says a review of Lee’s case is warranted.

“Toronto police need to explain what happened in 2015… It’s important people feel they have an outlet to disclose these assaults and that people will be held accountable, that these disclosures won’t just be dismissed by police,” Wilchesky said.

TPS isn’t the only force under scrutiny for their lack of action. York Regional Police is also under the magnifying glass. Of the 10 women who have come forward to police and pressed charges, six are in Toronto and four are in York region.

Police usually investigate crimes that happen in their jurisdiction. York Region encompasses the communities of Gormely and Aurora – places where Stronach has homes, where his companies are headquartered, and where streets and buildings bear his name.

Public documents show that in 2020, both Magna International, andthe Stronach Group, which encompasses the family’s horse racing ventures, donated $25,000 each to a retirement fundraising dinner for York’s chief of police. The proceeds went to support wellness programs for first responders and their families.

“It’s staggering, the kind of force field he created around him that turned people blind. It helps that you own the place and that people there rely on you for their salaries,” said Boon after seeing parallels between Lee’s case and her own experience.

When she worked as an engineering intern at Magna in the 1980s, Boon says she was invited to dinner at Rooney’s. Boon says Stronach flirted with her, and made sure restaurant staff always topped up her glass of champagne. She recalls Stronach insisting she had consumed too much alcohol to drive, and an administrative assistant who told her about the CEO’s comfortable guest house in Gormley. An employee was tasked with driving her car while Stronach took her to the guest house.

Boon says she felt pressure to have sex with Stronach.

“I felt like I dodged a bullet. It was uncomfortable and unsettling, but I never felt like my life was in danger.”

That’s unlike what Lee says she felt six years earlier. She told CTV News that she feared for her life and had no recollection of how she got from Rooney’s to the Toronto apartment on the harbourfront where she was taken.

Boon who studied engineering systems, says it’s clear to her that there is an “infrastructure” of people around predators who enable them.

Now a full time author at 54, Boon is calling on all the bystanders who looked the other way, or chose not to intervene to come forward with information to help police.

“They should be feeling very guilty, and this is the way to atone for their lapses in judgement and the absence of kindness they showed to vulnerable women.”

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