Auto billionaire Frank Stronach, 91, is arrested again on eight new sexual assault and rape charges as investigators say they have “identified additional victims.”

Auto industry billionaire Frank Stronach, 91, has been arrested once again and now faces new charges of sexual assault and rape.

Stronach, the founder of auto parts giant Magna, was accused earlier this month of sexually assaulting his victims starting in the 1980s and lasting until 2023.

He was subsequently charged with five criminal offenses including rape, sexual assault, indecent assault of a woman and false imprisonment.

But on Wednesday, Peel Regional Police said they had “identified additional victims” and charged him with eight more counts of sexual assault.

These include six counts of sexual assault, one count of attempted rape and one count of indecent assault against a woman, reports the Toronto Star.

Peel Regional Police Officer Tyler Bell previously noted there were multiple accusers, but he declined to say how many there were.

“Obviously this is a high-profile case. Our Special Victims Unit is required to protect victims and in doing so, that’s why we are vague,” Bell said.

“There is more than one victim, but we cannot confirm this number yet,” he added.

It remains unclear how many additional victims may have come forward to accuse Stronach of sexual assault since his June 7 arrest.

But an alleged victim contacted police a few hours after the first accusations were announced, a source close to the investigation told CBC.

Another woman, author Jane Boon, also claimed in an op-ed that Stronach had sex with her when she was 19 and he was 54.

She wrote that the Austrian-Canadian businessman interviewed her when she was a high school student and selected her for a scholarship to GMI – now Kettering University – in Flint, Wash. Michigan, to study engineering.

While at school in 1986, she claimed to have attended Magna's annual shareholders' meeting and to have been invited to an afterparty at Stronach's Toronto restaurant, Rooney's.

Toward the end of the dinner, Boon said Stronach insisted on driving her to Magna's guest house in Ontario and they had sex.

According to the Globe and Mail, Boon did not complain to police about the incident, but said she now feels uncomfortable about the encounter.

“At the time I thought it was consensual,” she wrote. “But if it wasn’t rape, it certainly wasn’t right.”

Stronach was scheduled to appear in an Ontario court on July 8 before the new charges were laid against him. It is unclear whether this court date will still be valid.

Meanwhile, his lawyer, Brian Greenspan – whose previous notable clients included Naomi Campbell and Justin Bieber – said the auto parts mogul denies the allegations “and will vigorously defend these new, unverified allegations dating back to 1977.”

He noted that Stronach “dedicated his life to improving the Canadian community and industry” and said he “now plans to continue to devote his energy and resources to his advocacy work for the adoption of a Canadian Economic Charter of Rights for the benefit of citizens”. workers, small businesses, family farmers and the Canadian economy.

Born in Austria in 1932, Stronach grew up under the Nazi regime before moving to Canada in the mid-1950s.

In 1957, the entrepreneur started Magna in his garage, and over the years he grew it into one of the world's largest suppliers of auto parts.

The company now has a market capitalization of $12.52 billion.

But in a statement, a company spokesperson stressed that “Stronach has had no affiliation with Magna since relinquishing control in 2010.”

He added that company executives had “no knowledge of the investigation or the allegations that were raised beyond what was reported in the media.”

Some of the entrepreneur's other business ventures included the creation of the Stronach Group, a horse racing company.

In 2013, the auto parts magnate returned to Austria, where he entered politics, founding and leading a right-wing populist political party called Team Stronach for Austria.

Two months later, Stronach returned to Canada, where he was appointed to the Order of Canada, one of the country's most prestigious honors.

In 2018, the billionaire sued his daughter Belinda, his two grandchildren and his former business partner Alon Ossip for more than $500 million in Ontario Superior Court.

Stronach criticized them for poor management of the family assets which he wanted to regain control of.

Belinda, a former Canadian MP and CEO of Magna, counterattacked her father, saying he lost huge amounts of money on pet projects.

The matter was finally settled. Stronach's wife Elfriede died at the age of 80 in March this year following illness.