More than 200 women accusing Al-Fayed negotiate deal with Harrods

More than 200 women accusing former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed of sexual violence have started negotiations for an amicable settlement with the London department store since the BBC revelations on September 19, Harrods announced Thursday.

Since the broadcast of the documentary “Al-Fayed: a predator at Harrods”, “more than 200 people have started an amicable settlement process directly” with the luxury store, the latter indicated in a press release to AFP. Some of the women are being represented by the Justice for Harrods Survivors team of lawyers, which last week said it had 71 clients from around the world in its action.

Even before these revelations, Harrods had “settled” since 2023 “a number of disputes with women denouncing previous acts of reprehensible sexual behavior” on the part of Al-Fayed. The latter died in August 2023 at the age of 94, which effectively extinguishes any criminal action against him.

Dozens of women, some of them minors at the time of the events, accuse Mohamed Al-Fayed of rape and sexual assault. At least five say they were raped by the father of Princess Diana’s last companion, Dodi, who died with her in a car accident in Paris on August 31, 1997.

For its part, the BBC, which had collected the testimony of around twenty women for its documentary, announced Thursday that it had been contacted by 65 other women accusing the billionaire of rape, harassment or sexual assault. Of these, 37 worked at Harrods at the time. Some denounce facts dating back as far as 1977.

One of them, aged 19 at the time of the facts she denounces, in 1985, had been recruited as a governess for the Al-Fayed manor in Oxted, in the south-east of England. , before realizing that she was only there to serve as a “sex toy” for the billionaire. She accuses him of rape and kidnapping.

Justice for Harrods Survivors lawyers have cited in recent weeks “credible evidence of sexual assault at other Al-Fayed properties and businesses, including the English club Fulham Football Club,” which he purchased in 1997. They also said they represented women who were employed at the Ritz in Paris, a luxury hotel which Mohamed Al-Fayed also owned.