Mohamed Al-Fayed, the regrettable billionaire

The dark side of Mohamed Al-Fayed was revealed in a shocking BBC documentary. Since then, the late billionaire has fallen, accused by a hundred women of sexual assault and rape.

He is known for having owned the London department store Harrods for over 20 years. He was also the head of the Ritz Hotel in Paris and the Fulham Football Club. He died last year, in August 2023, at the age of 94.

His life was crowned with success. His fortune was estimated at two billion when he took his last breath. If Al-Fayed shone professionally in front of the world, behind the scenes he was a very different man: a sexual predator. As the shocking BBC investigation tells us, the boss was a calculating man who established a code of silence within the Harrods management. The culture of fear dominated.

In 2024, five women broke their silence and confirmed that they had been raped by Al-Fayed. More than 20 women confessed to the sexual assaults they suffered in this documentary by the English channel. The London luxury store was, according to one victim, “a network of corruption and sexual abuse.”

Victims who became paranoid

So much so that the BBC journalists behind the documentary confided that the victims asked to testify were so afraid that they became paranoid – fear of reprisals from the billionaire’s associates and relatives.

“I walk around with the fear of someone who is dead,” says Gemma, one of the victims who claims to have been raped by Mohamed Al-Fayed. She worked as one of the businessman’s personal assistants between 2007 and 2009.

Another woman interviewed in the documentary said:

But once the wall of silence was erased, speech was freed, the surge began. Guardian refers to more than 100 women who have reported being sexually harassed or raped by Al-Fayed. Defense lawyers said they have received “more than 150 new requests” in recent days.

A lawyer representing several victims of the billionaire, Bruce Drummond, described the climate in the luxury store:

By dint of being stifled, the truth had to come out. Especially since the businessman has already been worried many times before this documentary. Vanity Fair had investigated the man, before starting a legal battle with the boss of Harrods.

The magazine’s first articles reported on assaults in 1995; racism, surveillance of staff and sexual misconduct by Fayed against Harrods staff were all reported – in August 1997 the case was closed by both parties.

The complaints have not never stopped

The attacks on the billionaire then continued. In December 1997, ITV’s “The Big Story” revealed serious allegations. Of course, Al-Fayed denied everything.

In 1998, it was the turn of a BBC journalist, Tom Bower, to publish a book: Fayed: The Unauthorized Biography. Or again in 2017, when Channel 4 broadcast a programme in which three women denounced touching, assaults and sexual harassment.

The class and elegance of the establishment are transformed into a chilling and perverse breath. Most often, the boss operated in his apartments on Park Lane or directly in the store’s offices, but also during business trips to Paris and Abu Dhabi. Gemma confides that she was raped at the Villa Windsor, in the Bois de Boulogne. A residence that belonged to Al-Fayed at the time.

Of the “protections” in Fulham

At Harrods, according to witnesses, he shopped and ruined lives in the process. But the Egyptian businessman could not have his way at Fulham, which he bought in 1997. Former women’s team manager Gante Haugenes said the players were “protected” by the club’s late owner after staff “became aware” that he particularly liked “young blonde girls”, the BBC reported.

Mohamed Al-Fayed bought Fulham Football Club in 1997.Image: AP

Following the revelations, the club explained that it was investigating whether anyone had been affected by the billionaire’s actions.

The cases are piling up

The Al-Fayed case delights these various files that splash society, depicting men with ignoble habits. The Abbé Pierre case and now that of the rapper Diddy are slaps in the face of a society that has imposed silence on victims for many years.

The British prosecution service also admitted that it decided in 2009 and 2015 not to prosecute Mohamed Al-Fayed, despite the existence of police investigations.

On the management side of the London store, which belongs to Qatar Investment Authority (the State of Qatar), the establishment said it was dismayed by the investigation and has already compensated several victims. An investigation has been opened in cooperation with the authorities to shed light on this affair which promises to be colossal. One more.

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