Former Harrods boss Al Fayed is said to have abused young women

LONDON (AP) – Mohamed Al Fayed, the former boss of Harrods, was a “monster” who raped and sexually abused young women, lawyers for dozens of his accusers said Friday.

The abuse continued throughout much of Al Fayed's 25-year tenure at the helm of the world-famous London department store, say the lawyers, who spoke at a televised news conference in London following the BBC documentary “Al-Fayed: Predator At Harrods.”

The four-member legal team told reporters that 37 of Al Fayed's accusers had hired them and were in the process of adding more clients, possibly including from other organizations in which Al Fayed was involved.

In the documentary broadcast on Thursday, Egyptian-born Al Fayed, who died last year aged 94, was accused of raping at least five women at his properties in London and Paris and of committing numerous other assaults and physical violence inside and outside Harrods.

“We say it very clearly: Mohamed Al Fayed was a monster,” said lead lawyer Dean Armstrong. “But he was a monster supported by a system, a system that permeated Harrods.”

Armstrong said the case brought together “some of the most horrific elements” of cases such as those of Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein – well-known and powerful men who were able to avoid allegations of sexual abuse for years before their victims finally came forward.

Some of Al Fayed's accusers were teenagers at the time of the abuse, and at least one was only 15 years old, according to the BBC documentary.

London's Metropolitan Police said it had already become aware of the allegations in the past and questioned Al Fayed in 2008 in connection with the sexual abuse of a 15-year-old. However, prosecutors did not pursue the case further at the time.

There was also no comment from Al Fayed’s family.

One of Al Fayed's accusers spoke at the press conference, identified only as Natacha, and said the billionaire was “highly manipulative” and “preyed on the most vulnerable, those of us who had to pay the rent and some of us who didn't have parents to protect us.”

Natacha, who said she joined Al Fayed's team of personal assistants at the age of 19, said she was invited to his private apartment one evening “under the pretext of a work meeting.” When she arrived, she found the bedroom door ajar and sex toys visible.

“I was petrified. I sat down at the very end of the sofa and then… Mohamed Al Fayed, my boss, the person I worked for, pushed himself on top of me,” she said.

After she kicked herself free, she said Al Fayed threatened her.

“He laughed at me,” she said. “Then he pulled himself together and told me in no uncertain terms that I must never say another word about it to anyone and that if I did, I would never work in London again and that he knew where my family lived.”

“I was scared and felt sick,” she added.

In the UK, victims often only give their name to protect their privacy. It was not clear why Natacha only gave one name on camera or whether that was her real first name.

The Associated Press only discloses the identities of victims of sexual violence if they have voluntarily come forward and identified themselves. The legal team could not immediately be reached for comment.

Having already invested in shipping in Italy and the Middle East, Al Fayed moved to Britain in the 1960s and began building an empire.

At the height of his wealth, he owned the Ritz Hotel in Paris and the south-west London football club Fulham. He moved in high circles in London but was never knighted. He became a prominent conspiracy theorist after the Paris plane crash that killed his son Dodi and Princess Diana in 1997.

Al Fayed sold Harrods in 2010 to a company owned by the state of Qatar through its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority.

In a statement to the BBC, Harrods owners said they were “deeply appalled” by the abuse allegations, but added they only became aware of them last year.

“While we cannot undo the past, we are determined to do the right thing as a company, guided by the values ​​we hold today. At the same time, we want to ensure that such behavior is not repeated in the future,” the owners said in a statement.

Armstrong rejected Harrods' claim that the owners were unaware of the years-long sexual allegations against Al Fayed, pointing to several media reports in recent years about allegations of sexual misconduct by Al Fayed.