Mohamed Al Fayed accused of multiple rapes by former staff.
Mohamed Al Fayed, the former head of Harrods, has been accused of rape by five former female employees who allege that the late billionaire sexually assaulted them during his tenure at the prestigious London department store. In a recent BBC documentary it claims that the Egyptian-born businessman, who passed away in London at the age of 94 last August, allegedly committed these acts while overseeing the store from 1984 until its sale in 2010. The BBC reports that over 20 former female staff members at Harrods have stepped forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct.
The BBC program, titled Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods asserts that the company not only neglected to assist the purported victims but also concealed their allegations. The present owners of the store (the state of Qatar)have expressed their profound dismay regarding these accusations and have extended their apologies to the women involved.
Bruce Drummond, a barrister representing some of the ex-employees, said: ‘The spider’s web of corruption and abuse in this company was unbelievable and very dark.
‘Any place of work has a duty to ensure the safety of its employees. Without question, the company failed these ladies.
‘That’s why we step in. Because they just did nothing to actually prevent this. They did the opposite. They enabled it.’
The incidents are reported to have occurred not only in London, specifically at his Mayfair residence, but also in Paris at the Ritz hotel, which he owned, as well as in St. Tropez, France, and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Former staff member, identified as Gemma, who served as a personal assistant to Al Fayed from 2007 to 2009. She recounts that his conduct became increasingly unsettling during business trips overseas.
She says he raped her at Villa Windsor in Paris’s Bois de Boulogne, a former home of post-abdication King Edward VIII and his wife Wallis Simpson.
She described waking up to find him attempting to get into bed with her, adding: ‘I told him, “No, I don’t want you to”.
‘And he proceeded to just keep trying to get in the bed, at which point he was kind of on top of me and [I] really couldn’t move anywhere.
‘I was kind of face down on the bed and he just pressed himself on me.’
She added: ‘I think Mohamed Al Fayed is a rapist – he is a serial rapist.’
Harrods, Knightsbridge. London
The BBC said it heard testimony from 13 women who say they were sexually assaulted at Fayed’s 60 Park Lane property in London, four of whom allege they were raped there.
Harrods began settling claims with women who came forward with claims of sexual abuse at his hands in July 2023.
In a statemen, Harrods told the BBC it these had been the actions of an individual “intent on abusing his power” which it condemned in the strongest terms.
It said: “The Harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010, it is one that seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything we do.”
Mohamed Al Fayed was the father of Dodi Fayed, the Egyptian film producer and the eldest child. He was romantically involved with Diana, Princess of Wales, when they both died in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997.