Sidney Frankel faces growing abuse storm
Alleged victims say former broker misused power to get his way
THE darker side of Johannesburg businessman and philanthropist Sidney Frankel, 67, is being exposed in grim detail as allegations that he sexually violated children between the ’70s and ’90s gained momentum this week.
Frankel, one of the golden boys of South Africa’s stockbroking fraternity, allegedly abused children over decades at his horse farm in Kyalami, his game farm in Bushbuckridge and his house in Abbotsford.
He is further accused of molesting a boy at a children’s home, as well as his relatives and their friends under their own roof.
As news grew this week that some of Frankel’s alleged victims would pursue justice through a civil claim — each demanding damages of R5-million — the man who famously brought ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and former National Party member Roelf Meyer together in 1991, remained resolutely silent. His only response came via his legal representative, divorce attorney Billy Gundelfinger, who denied the allegations against Frankel.
The allegations of paedophilia surfaced in October last year in the independent investigative magazine Noseweek. Then, in an article headlined “Frankel is a paedophile”, graphic accounts from his alleged victims sketched a portrait of a successful and charming man who ruthlessly preyed on children with whom he came into contact through his social circle.
This week, as lawyers wrapped up their preparation of the civil claim against Frankel, his alleged victims laid bare their experiences to the Sunday Times. Through extensive documentation and confirmatory statements to this newspaper, the harrowing accounts of seven of them are detailed below.
The claims of siblings Nicole Levenstein and Paul Diamond, siblings George and Katherine Rosenberg, Daniela McNally, Lisa Wegner and Shane Rothquel are being dealt with by attorney Ian Levitt.
Seeking comment from Frankel through Gundelfinger, the standard response from the past week — as the allegations were aired in the media — was repeated. “As I said, I’m not litigating this in the media. I’m not getting involved in a trial through the media. We will deal with this in the proper forum. They can institute action, lay criminal charges. We have said what we want to say.”
Levenstein, the first plaintiff in the civil claim, to be lodged next week, said: “Sidney Frankel came with power and status, so how could we tell our parents about these things? The abuse was often in a group of girls, not behind locked doors.”
An eighth victim alleged on Friday that she was sexually abused from the age of six until 12. She will not be joining the civil action as she wants to protect her family’s privacy.
Following the October Noseweek report, McNally, in Chicago, and Wegner, in Cape Town, sent letters with similar allegations of sexual assaults to the magazine.
Frances Waring, whose father used to be a National Party politician, also responded in a letter that Frankel had tried to fiddle with her 10-year-old daughter, Max, in his stables.
She said this week: “He didn’t look like a paedophile. He looked like a nerd. He was so sure of his cover-up, he even asked Max to go to his trout farm with some orphans. When she screamed ‘NO! NO!’ he answered coolly, in front of his dad, me and my daughter: ‘Don’t worry, Max, you can sleep in my bedroom, you don’t have to sleep with the orphans!’
“That arrogance was the final straw for me. After that I told everybody I could about him. Some of them would go pale and quiet and say: ‘That happened to us as well.’ ”
Waring said her father had asked her to refrain from telling Frankel’s father, Leslie — a stockbroking legend — about the alleged molestation since he was at the time a donor to the National Party.
One woman in the civil case told her family about her alleged trauma for the first time this month.
Frankel’s apparent modus operandi — allegedly grooming children to win their trust, bestowing favours and sexually abusing them — appears similar to that of former tennis star Bob Hewitt, said advocate Stacey Halamandres Barbaglia.
A member of the successful prosecution team that managed to get Hewitt convicted on two counts of rape and one of sexual assault, Barbaglia has joined the team suing Frankel.
Miranda Friedman, the founder of Women and Men Against Child Abuse, said: “Children don’t have the psychological and emotional capacity to process this kind of trauma, that is, that the person that they look up to is also the person who’s abusing them; the same person who is building their trust is also breaking their boundaries.”
Levenstein believes that Frankel, who was a well-known benefactor, manipulated his status and the trappings of his wealth, such as farms, horses and flashy cars, to get close to them. They looked up to him and got confused by his alleged sexual attentions when they were alone, in pairs or groups.
Rothquel, who lived at the Arcadia Jewish Children’s Home for three years, claimed that Frankel had his “favourites” at the institution. He alleged for the first time on Talk Radio 702 this week that he was molested by Frankel on the premises of the children’s home.
Levenstein, a nurse and mother of three, said: “I remember his voice when he told me this secret is between us, not to tell anybody.”
Diamond, her brother, said: “We idolised him. He wielded massive power and everyone wanted to be his friend. We saw him as a mentor but he broke our trust.”
Diamond said about 10 more people who allege they were abused by Frankel have spoken to him, but they wanted to protect their privacy.
It appears that Frankel had once acknowledged his deeds to a victim. Katherine Rosenberg said Frankel had spoken to her about 11 years ago. “He told me he was going to a therapist and was advised to confront those he molested and ask for forgiveness.”
Levenstein, a composed woman in a matching headscarf and earrings, said: “I want to give a voice to so many children, women and men who were trauma- tised by him. At the time we felt shame, but this shame does not belong to us. I do not see myself as a victim. I have a magnificent life in Israel which I would not trade for material gain.”
While the four women and three men represented by Levitt are suing Frankel for damages, they insist that what they really want is for the truth to finally emerge.
Diamond said: “This is not a money-grabbing process. For example, George has said that his intention would be to give this money away to various charities.”
Their civil claim is their only legal option. No criminal case for sexual abuse can be opened 20 years after the offence had been committed, unless it is rape, as it was with Hewitt.
But so deep are the scars they say they had experienced that they are investigating an application to the Constitutional Court to enable the criminal prosecution of Frankel.
The claimants allege that his repeated abuse represented traumatic sexualisation, betrayal, powerlessness and a stigma that distorted their relationships with the rest of the world. The harm done lasted well into adulthood, impacting on their intimate relationships.
Levitt said: “The Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that the three-year limit for civil claims in cases involving the sexual abuse of children commences only when the abused has a meaningful knowledge of the wrong.
“In my view, then the 20-year limit for criminal prosecution should commence only with the knowledge of the offence rather than the date of the offence.”
Levitt said his clients’ understanding that Frankel was responsible for sexual assaults and abuse against them was the result of a gradual process.
“They only gained a full appreciation of the criminal acts committed by the defendant during the period May 2012 to the present,” he stated.
I remember his voice when he told me this secret is between us, not to tell anybody We idolised him. He wielded massive power. We saw him as a mentor but he broke our trust