Former Harrods boss Mohammed al-Fayed was a “monster” who sexually assaulted and abused young women, lawyers for dozens of his co-defendants said on Friday.
Lawyers said the abuse continued throughout al-Fayed’s 25-year career, from 1985 until now at the helm of the famous London department store. They were speaking at a televised news conference in London following the BBC documentary Al-Fayed: The Predator at Harrods.
The four-person legal team told reporters they have been hired by 37 of al-Fayed’s accusers and are in the process of adding more clients, including possibly from other organizations al-Fayed was involved with.
In a documentary released Thursday, Egyptian-born Al-Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94, is accused of raping at least five women at his properties in London and Paris and committing numerous other acts of rape and physical violence, inside and outside Harrods.
“Let’s put it bluntly: Mohammed al-Fayed was a monster,” said lead lawyer Dean Armstrong. “But he was a monster who operated through the system, the system that enveloped Harrods.”
Armstrong said the case combined “some of the most appalling elements” of cases such as those of Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein – famous and powerful men who managed to avoid accusations of sexual assault for years before their accusers came forward.
According to a BBC documentary, some of Al-Fayed’s accusers were teenagers at the time of the abuse, with at least one under the age of 15.
London’s Metropolitan Police said it had been informed of the allegations in the past and questioned Al Fayed in 2008 over the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy, but prosecutors did not pursue the case at the time.
Al Fayed’s family also declined to comment.
One of Al-Fayid’s accusers spoke at the news conference. She was identified only as Natacha and said the billionaire businessman was “very manipulative” and “targeted the most vulnerable people who had to pay rent and some of us who didn’t have parents to protect them.”
Natacha, who said she joined Al Fayed’s team of personal assistants when she was 19, said she was invited to his private home one night “on the pretext of discussing business.” When she arrived, she said she found the bedroom door partially open with sex toys.
“I felt petrified. I was sitting at the end of the couch and then… Mohamed Al-Fayed, my boss, the person I worked for, pushed himself on top of me.”
After she freed herself, she said Al Fayed had threatened her.
“He laughed at me,” she said. “So he braced himself and told me he would never say that word to anyone and if he did I would never work in London again and he knew where my family lived.”
“I felt scared and sick,” she said.
In the UK, victims are often identified by only one name to protect their privacy. It was not clear why Natacha used only one name during the on-camera show, or whether it was her real name.
The Associated Press does not identify victims of sexual assault unless they come forward and identify themselves voluntarily. Attorneys for the group could not immediately be reached for comment.
Al-Fayed moved to Britain in the 1960s, after early investments in shipping in Italy and the Middle East, and began building an empire.
At the height of his wealth, he owned the Ritz Hotel in Paris and the Fulham football club in south-west London. He moved in high circles in London but was never knighted. He became a well-known conspiracy theorist after the Paris attacks that killed his son Dodi and Princess Diana in 1997.
Al Fayed sold Harrods to a Qatari state-owned company in 2010 through his sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority.
In a statement to the BBC, Harrods owners said they were “absolutely horrified” by the abuse allegations, but added that they only became aware of them last year.
“While we cannot undo the past, we are determined to do the right thing as an organization today, based on our values, and to ensure that such behavior never happens again in the future,” the owners said.
Armstrong rejected Harrods’ claim that the owners were unaware of sexual allegations against Al Fayed for many years, citing several media reports in recent years about allegations of sexual misconduct by Al Fayed. The BBC documentary says at least one of the women signed a confidentiality agreement.
“We are here to say publicly and to the world, or Harrods to the world, that it is time for them to take responsibility,” Armstrong said. “This is something they need to do as soon as possible.”
US lawyer Gloria Allred, who has represented accusers in some of the most high-profile sexual assault cases in recent years, including alleged abuse by Epstein, Weinstein and Bill Cosby, also spoke out and criticised the culture at Harrods during Al Fayed’s tenure.
“Harrods is often called the most beautiful department store in the world… many women would dream of working there,” she said. “However, beneath the veneer and glamour of Harrods was a toxic, dangerous and abusive environment.”
Pilas writes for the Associated Press.
