When his trial began in February, Frank Stronach faced 12 counts related to seven female complainants whose allegations included sexual assault and the historical charges of rape and attempted rape.

Now, with all the evidence heard and closing submissions set for the end of the month, those charges have been whittled down to seven — related to four of the initial seven complainants.

That the Crown has decided to drop five charges, and discard the testimony of three complainants, has raised some questions about the initial strength of some of their cases and whether enough was done beforehand to anticipate potential problems.

"Obviously, there are some difficulties with many of these witnesses, which I think makes this case look fairly weak at this point," Weisberg said. "Some of which had to have been foreseen in some way."