Episode Details

Frank Stronach’s sexual assault trial just took a wild turn when a mistrial was declared after a bizarre lawyer-to-lawyer chat derailed the judge’s confidence in her original guilty verdict. The complainant’s lawyer, Shale Wagman, allegedly tried to negotiate civil damages with Stronach’s defense attorney, Leora Shemesh — which Shemesh called a “shakedown.” Judge Anne Molloy, already convinced of guilt on two charges, found the exchange so contradictory to the complainant’s testimony that she couldn’t trust her own credibility findings, calling it “bizarre” and ordering a mistrial. Both lawyers are now at odds: Wagman says he was helping victims and feels unfairly smeared, while Shemesh insists Wagman was trying to extort money. The judge’s ruling highlights how hard it is to assess historic sexual assault claims — and though the case isn’t over, the Crown may retry the dismissed charges, and Stronach still faces another trial with six more complainants plus sentencing on his one remaining conviction.

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