British lawyer Dean Armstrong said more than 400 women have so far contacted the legal team working against late Egyptian billionaire Mohamed al-Fayed, who is accused of sexual harassment and assault.
Lawyer Dean Armstrong told a news conference in London: “The scale of the abuses facilitated by al-Fayed and those close to him is unfortunately increasing.” Another lawyer working on the case, Bruce Drummond, said more than 400 reports had been submitted by women from around the world, mainly from Great Britain, but also from the United States, Australia, Malaysia, Spain, South Africa and other countries.
“We believe this is abuse on a massive scale,” Drummond said. He noted that the crimes took place within the walls of al-Fayed's luxury department store Harrods in London, but also at other locations linked to his business empire, such as Fulham's football headquarters, the Ritz hotel in Paris and his estate in Surrey. .
Harrods is a luxury NEIL HALL/PAP/EPA department store in London
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Drummond revealed that the businessman's victims included the daughter of the former US ambassador to Great Britain and the daughter of a famous football player, but he did not name them.
The deceased billionaire is accused of sexual crimes
The Egyptian billionaire's case resurfaced in September when the BBC aired a documentary featuring the testimony of more than 20 former Harrods employees.
They said al-Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94, had sexually assaulted them, and five of them spoke of rape. Since then, the case has become even more controversial.
Mohamed Al-Fayed places Michael Jackson statue in front of Fulham club headquarters PAP/EPA
After the documentary aired, the British Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) admitted it had failed to charge al-Fayed twice in the past, despite receiving information from police about his sex crimes. In 2009, when no charges were first brought against al-Fayed, current British Prime Minister Keir Starmer headed the CPS.
It was Muhammad al-Fayed
Al-Fayed was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and started his business career by selling soda, then worked as a sewing machine salesman. He built his fortune in real estate, shipping and construction, first in the Middle East and then in Europe.
The last years of his life were mainly devoted to proving that the death of his son Dodi and Princess Diana in a car accident in Paris in 1997 was not an accident, but a deliberate conspiracy. The inquest into Diana's death found no evidence to support this claim.
Al-Fayed owned Harrods from 1985 until 2010, when he sold it to the Qatari sovereign wealth fund for around £1.5 billion.
