In the original suit, Frank Stronach, 86, claims Belinda is starving his grass-fed cattle farm of financing, selling off assets over his objections while using company funds to bankroll an extravagant lifestyle of parties, vacations and limousine rides.
Magna Origins
Frank Stronach, who built Magna into a global auto-parts giant from a one-man shop, and his wife Elfriede say their relationship with their daughter has suffered a “complete breakdown.” The lawsuit against her is a “last resort” after trying for 20 months to find a settlement, according to a 73-page statement of claim filed in a Toronto court on Oct. 1.
The couple are seeking C$520 million in compensation from Belinda, Ossip and her two adult children, Nicole and Frank Walker, whose father Don Walker is the current CEO of Magna. They want Belinda and Ossip removed from the management of various family companies and trusts.
Key to the lawsuit are what Frank and his wife say were “covert” and “unlawful” actions to appropriate family assets from at least 2011 until November 2016 -- when the suit says Belinda and Ossip took the view that Frank was no longer in control of the family empire.
“Belinda and Alon have asserted control over the Stronach Group in an oppressive manner and have taken steps to shut the rest of the Stronach family out of the family’s business,” Frank’s says in the suit.
Hormone Free
Frank Stronach’s post-Magna life has included a stint as a member of parliament in his native Austria from late 2013 to early 2014, the development of Adena Farms, a Florida-based agricultural business dedicated to producing hormone-free, grass-fed beef and a golf and country club in Florida that included restaurants serving all-natural foods. Stronach is worth about $1.9 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
After demanding that Frank “take immediate steps to rein in or terminate’’ expenditures associated with Adena and other ventures, Belinda and Ossip moved to “impair, undermine and dismantle” the agricultural businesses -- cutting off funding, canceling leases and laying off employees, according to the Oct. 1 suit. As a result, Adena Farms has been “placed in a precarious position and may never reach its full potential.”
Extravagant Lifestyle
Separately, the suit alleges Belinda, who ran Magna from 2001 to 2004, has appropriated more than $70 million to maintain her lifestyle over the years, “routinely’’ asking to be reimbursed for “hundreds of thousands of dollars’’ of personal expenses -- including parties, vacations, limousine rides, and expensive meals.
That included the C$10 million purchase and refurbishment of a personal office in Toronto -- at a time when the Stronach group was suffering from liquidity issues, an “irresponsible” and “extravagant” move when Magna and related companies already have offices nearby in Aurora, Ontario.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.