Frank Stronach, the 91-year-old billionaire founder of one of the world’s largest auto parts companies, was arrested and charged Friday in connection with a sexual assault investigation.
In a brief news release, the Peel Region police force, outside Toronto, said the time frame of the crimes Mr. Stronach allegedly committed spanned from the 1980s to last year.
Stronach, the Austrian-born founder of Magna International, was charged with offenses including indecent assault, sexual assault and forcible confinement. He was released after being charged and will appear later in court in Brampton, Ont.
Brian Greenspan, Mr. Stronach’s lawyer, said his client “categorically denies the allegations of wrongdoing that have been leveled against him.”
He added: “He looks forward to having the opportunity to respond fully to the charges and maintain his legacy, both as a philanthropist and as an icon of the Canadian business community.”
Stronach turned a one-man machine shop he founded in 1957 into a global company. Under him, Magna, which also assembles vehicles for several automakers including Mercedes-Benz, attempted to take over Chrysler and Opel, the European arm of General Motors.
Investors in Magna were often irritated by how Stronach used his control over the company through a special class of stock to involve it in various, sometimes unprofitable, ventures unrelated to auto parts manufacturing, including a chain of Failed restaurants, a glossy business magazine, golf courses and horse racing. In 2010, Magna gave Stronach about $1 billion to give up control.
The Stronach Group, which he founded and now run by his daughter, Belinda Stronach, owns or operates horse racing tracks throughout the United States.
In 2013, Team Stronach, a pro-business protest party founded by Stronach, won two seats in Austria’s state parliaments.
In a statement, Tracy Fuerst, a spokesperson for Magna, said she “is not aware of the investigation or the allegations that have been raised beyond what has been reported in the media.”
The Stronach Group did not respond to a request for comment.
It is unclear why charges were laid in Peel, which is part of the Greater Toronto Area. Stronach lives in York, which is also in the Toronto area and where Magna is based. Officer Tyler Bell, a police spokesman, declined to comment on the investigation.
While he ran Magna, making him at one point Canada’s highest-paid executive, Stronach often offered iconoclastic economic and political theories or comments that some considered inappropriate. He began the company’s 2007 annual meeting not by discussing his bid for Chrysler, but by asking shareholders who was more attractive to women, himself or his former collaborator, Manfred Gingl.
Stronach is the second Canadian billionaire to be charged with sex crimes in just over a week. Montreal police have brought 21 sex-related charges against Robert G. Miller, the founder of Future Electronics, including several counts of sexual exploitation of minors. Police said he had paid several young girls to perform sexual acts.
