Stronach Group Founder Frank Stronach Faces Additional Sex Assault Charges

Canadian billionaire and Stronach Group founder Frank Stronach has been charged with eight additional counts of sexual assault after police said more victims had come forward.

Frank Stronach, the Stronach Group, 1/ST, sexual assault charges
Frank Stronach, above. The 91-year-old is facing sexual assault and rape charges dating from 1977 to earlier this year, according to court filings. He has denied them all through his lawyer. (Image: Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail)

The 91-year-old was arrested again Wednesday, three weeks after his initial detention on charges of rape, indecent assault on a female, sexual assault, and forcible confinement.

The new charges include six counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted rape, and one count of indecent assault on a female, according to court documents. The alleged incidents occurred from 1977 to February this year, per the filings.

Stronach Denies Allegations

The Stronach Group is the biggest thoroughbred racetrack owner in the US. It also has training centers and simulcast operations across the country. These include California’s Santa Anita racetrack and Golden Gate Fields, the latter of which closed earlier this month.

Gulfstream Park in Florida, as well as the Pimlico Racecourse, the Laurel Racecourse, and Rosecroft Raceway, all in Maryland, are also Stronach assets.

Stronach is no longer involved with the group, which now trades as 1/ST. His daughter, Belinda Stronach, is the current chairman, CEO, and president of the company.

Stronach’s lawyer, Brian Greenspan, said his client “denies and will vigorously defend these further untested allegations dating back to 1977.”

“He has spent his lifetime committed to the betterment of the Canadian community and industry,” Greenspan added.

Rags to Riches

Austrian-born Stronach came to Canada in the late 1930s with little to his name. In 1957, he opened a machine shop, which he transformed into a global auto parts business that became Magna International.

Magna is now one of the largest companies in Canada and the biggest auto parts manufacturer in North America.

A keen racing enthusiast and thoroughbred owner, Stronach bought Santa Anita in 1998 for $127 million and launched the Stronach Group in 2011 with Belinda Stronach. He resigned two years later to pursue a political career in his native Austria as an advocate of free-market neoliberalism.

Family Schism

In 2018, Stronach filed a lawsuit against his daughter and other family members alleging corporate mismanagement. It was settled in 2020, with Stronach being awarded a stallion and breeding business.

In 2017, he had an estimated net worth of C$3.06 billion (US$2.2 billion), according to Canadian Business.

The Stronach Group is aware of the serious charges that have been brought against Frank Stronach,” the company said in an official statement Thursday.

“Frank Stronach has not held a formal role or been involved with company operations in any capacity for several years. This matter is now before the courts and will be dealt with in the appropriate forum. The company has nothing further to add.”

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Washington State Woman with TB Faces Jail After Casino Visit

An unnamed Tacoma, Wash. woman who refuses to isolate with tuberculosis (TB) has visited an area casino at least once, according to court documents seen by The Tacoma News Tribune.

TB, tuberculosis, Tacoma, Casino Washington state
TB is a life-threatening bacterial infection that attacks the lungs. It killed 1.6 million people worldwide in 2021, but US deaths are rare, and  it can be treated with antibiotics. (Image: MyMed)

The woman, identified in filings only as “V.N.,” has been ordered by the Pierce County Superior Court to isolate and receive treatment for the disease. But thus far, she has failed to comply, The News Tribune reports.

V.N. has had the disease for over a year and has ignored over a dozen court orders.

On March 2, the woman was found to be in contempt of those orders and a warrant was issued for her arrest. Nevertheless, as of April 5, she remained at large and continued to avoid detention, according to court documents filed last week.

At the time of publication, it is not clear whether V.N. has been apprehended by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.

Public Consumption

A corrections officer has been assigned to surveil the respondent to “determine her habits in order to execute the warrant in a safe manner,” according to the filings.

The officer “observed a person they believed to be respondent leave her residence, get onto a city bus, and arrive at a local casino,” the documents said.

While TB is a life-threatening bacterial infection that attacks the lungs, frequent visitors to Tacoma-area casinos probably shouldn’t panic. Transmission usually occurs only after prolonged, frequent, or close contact with an infected individual.

That means it is far more likely to be transferred between members of the same household. Even then, 90% of those infected are asymptomatic and cannot pass on the disease. This is known as latent TB. For the 10% who develop active TB, the deathrate is around 66% if effective treatment is not received.

Global Killer

In 2021, the disease killed around 1.6 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Just 526 of those deaths occurred in the US, per figures from the CDC. Washington state averages around 200 cases per year, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department (TPCHD).

Treatment for active TB involves prolonged antibiotics courses of between four and 20 weeks because some strains of the disease are resistant to certain medications. This is something V.N. shows no willingness to be subjected to, according to court filings.

In a blog post days before V.N.’s arrest warrant was issued, the TPCHD admitted that such cases involve a fine balance between the risk to the public and the civil liberties of the patient.

“We are always hopeful a patient will choose to comply voluntarily. Seeking to enforce a court order through a civil arrest warrant is always our last resort,” the health department said.

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