The number of sexual abuse allegations against the late billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed is growing, with 65 more women contacting the BBC to tell their stories within the last month.
Of those, 37 reportedly said they worked at Harrods, the luxury London department store that Al-Fayed owned and which he allegedly used as his hunting ground. Others identified themselves as ex-members of his household staff, and one accused the businessman—who died last year, at the age of 94—of misconduct as early as 1977.
Al-Fayed, whose son Dodi died alongside Princess Diana in her fatal Paris car crash, owned Harrods between 1985 and 2010. When the BBC aired its investigations into his alleged predation last month, the broadcaster spoke with more than 20 women whose experiences helped establish a pattern of behavior that spanned those two-plus decades: According to former staff, Al-Fayed would follow and threaten women who worked at the store—in particular, young sales assistants whom he would then shuttle to his office—subjecting them to gynecological exams as a condition of employment.
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The women accused Al-Fayed of pestering them with unwanted touching, forced kissing, and in at least five cases, rape. They said the incidents took place not only at the department store but also at Al-Fayed’s various properties in London, Paris, and beyond. Since the BBC dropped its documentary and podcast, Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods, more than 70 women have reportedly secured legal representation for their claims, while Harrods told the BBC: “So far there are 200+ individuals who are now in the Harrods process to settle claims directly with the business.”
The latest wave of women to speak with the broadcaster includes a woman who says that when she was 19, she was hired as a nanny at Al-Fayed’s Oxted estate and “kept as a prisoner” for five days. During that time, she said Al-Fayed assaulted her multiple times and ultimately raped her, both vaginally and anally.
Another woman said she was working in a Dubai bank when she met the businessman nearly 50 years ago. He invited her to a job interview, during which she recalled him coming up behind her and groping her, an encounter that only ended when she slapped him and managed to escape. After that, she told the BBC, Al-Fayed would turn up everywhere she went, once telling her, “I warned you you’d regret it… have you noticed that I’m always there?”
The Metropolitan Police in London is reportedly investigating the allegations, even as law enforcement agencies in the U.K. have been implicated in the scheme. Last week, The Guardian reported that officers with both the Met and Scotland Yard accepted kickbacks from Al-Fayed to keep complaints against him quiet. He allegedly bribed police with cash payments on several occasions, but according to The Guardian, sometimes all it took to get them to do his bidding was a Harrods gift basket.
