The overdue billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed, the longtime proprietor of London’s luxurious division retailer Harrods whose son died in a automobile crash with Princess Diana, is being described via accusers as a “monster” and a “predator” following allegations that he raped a number of ladies who labored for him on the retailer in London.”We’ve survivors from far and wide the arena,” mentioned attorney Bruce Drummond at a information convention Friday in London, pronouncing that 37 ladies, together with six American citizens, had come ahead to say attacks together with rape. A few of the staff are 5 ladies who allege they had been raped via the Egyptian billionaire, who died in August 2023 on the age of 94.The allegations contain “duvet ups, threats and 1 / 4 century of sexual abuse” that legal professionals mentioned had been skilled via the ladies, “some as younger as 15 and 16.”
“Many ladies dreamed of operating there [Harrods] to be related to this prestigious company,” mentioned outstanding American ladies’s rights recommend and lawyer Gloria Allred, who may be representing the ladies at the back of the accusations. She mentioned they as a substitute came upon that underneath the “glitz and glamour was once a poisonous, unsafe, and abusive atmosphere.”
The Harrods luxurious division retailer in London, on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024.
Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photographs
U.Ok. information shops record police investigated allegations of harassment and attack from a number of ladies towards Al Fayed throughout his lifetime, however he was once by no means charged. Al Fayed denied the ones accusations.
“He knew the place my circle of relatives lived. I felt scared and ill.”The legal professionals mentioned many of the sufferers had been left feeling powerless, beaten with concern of going through retaliation. “Their terror was once strengthened via threats, surveillance, and speak to tapping,” claimed Allred on the information convention in London, including that one in every of Al Fayed’s alleged sufferers, recognized as Natacha, mentioned he’d focused essentially the most inclined individuals of his team of workers — “the ones people who had to pay the hire and a few people who did not have folks to give protection to them.”Natacha was once on the information convention in particular person and, at the side of one of the vital different ladies, has no less than in part waived her proper to anonymity. Her complete title was once now not given. She mentioned she’d been accompanied on one instance via one in every of Al Fayed’s safety guards to his personal sitting room, the place the door was once due to this fact locked at the back of her. “There was once intercourse toys on view,” she mentioned. “Mohammad Al Fayed, the individual I labored for, driven himself onto me.”
It was once alleged that Al Fayed’s abusive conduct was once now not a secret and was once well known amongst staff at Harrods.
Report: Mohamed Al Fayed on Oct. 28, 2011 in Milan, Italy.
Jacopo Raule / Getty Photographs
The dep. retailer — which Al Fayed offered in 2010 — was once accused on Friday of getting enabled its former boss in a “huge internet of abuse,” as there was once a “procurement gadget in position to supply the girls and women.” That allegedly integrated “medical doctors administering invasive gynecological assessments as a situation of employment for one of the vital staff who had been focused via Mohamed Al-Fayed for sexual abuse via him.”Harrods’ present house owners, the Qatari state-owned state of Qatar Funding Authority, advised CBS Information’ spouse community BBC Information that it was once “completely appalled” via the allegations towards Al Fayed. The BBC mentioned the corporate said that the ladies have been failed via the industry, for which it sincerely apologized.”That is and was once a scientific failure of company duty,” mentioned attorney Dean Armstrong, who may be representing the ladies. Armstrong mentioned the “case combines one of the vital maximum horrific parts of the circumstances involving Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein, and Harvey Weinstein.” Al Fayed “was once a monster enabled via the gadget,” he mentioned.
Extra from CBS Information
