By The Canadian Press

‘It was a betrayal’: Woman tells sex assault trial Frank Stronach tried to rape her

Feb 18, 2026 | 1:00 AM

TORONTO — A woman is telling Frank Stronach’s sexual assault trial she felt confused and betrayed when the man she had grown to trust suddenly pushed her over the arm of a chair in his apartment and tried to rape her.

The woman, who is in her 70s, says she had come to know Stronach through his restaurant and nightclub complex, where she and her friends were regulars in the mid-1970s.

She says she and Stronach had dinner together at the restaurant in the fall of 1977 and he invited her to see his apartment afterward.

Once there, she says, he briefly disappeared and the next thing she knew, he had pushed her over an armchair, lifted up her skirt and tried to rape her.

The woman says she stood up, grabbed her purse and coat and left, and she never had contact with Stronach again.

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Stronach, who is 93, has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges related to seven complainants over alleged incidents spanning decades.

All seven complainants are expected to testify at the auto parts tycoon’s trial in Toronto. Wednesday’s witness is the third to take the stand.

The incident in the apartment happened quickly and unexpectedly, she told the court. Stronach was someone she had come to trust and she’d previously had no reason to feel apprehensive around him, she said, describing him as “polite and kind” during their multiple interactions.

“So the whole incident came as a complete surprise … it was a betrayal,” she said.

After that, she and her friends continued to hang out at the complex but avoided the restaurant and the nightclub sections, opting instead for the basement pub, she said.

“It just never felt safe again” to go to the restaurant or club, she said.

Two other complainants, both women in their 60s, have testified in the trial since it began last week, laying out their accounts of encounters with the billionaire businessman in the early 1980s.

On Tuesday, the second complainant said she met Stronach for dinner after asking him for information on her termination from his restaurant.

She said she felt obligated to accept his invitation to see his harbourfront condo afterward, and that she felt “terrified” when he groped her as she was trying to leave.

None of the complainants can be identified under a standard publication ban.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2026.

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press