All 3 Fayed Brothers, former owners of Harrods, are now charged with sexual assault

Amy McIlquham was asked to spend a long weekend with his boss at Gstaad, Switzerland when he was 21 years old.

Ms. McQua joined Harrods, a luxury department store in London in 1993. Canadians took a civics course and she was promoted from the workshop to become a personal assistant to Mohamed Al-Fayed, who jointly owned the business with his younger brothers Salah and Ali .

She recalled that in early 1994, she boarded the company’s private jet and flew to GSTAAD as Ali’s assistant.

Once she got there, there was no work to do. She was in the cabin with Ali and a butler. Ali then took her to the pool in his 50s. She remembered the black swimsuit and fake pearl necklace she was wearing.

“I just remember him pulling me in, fumble and pulling from the waist and from my bottom, just grabbing, fumble and pulling,” Ms. McQuhan, 52, said in an interview. She thought it was the weekend of April 30, 1994, because she remembered the Eurovision Song Contest on TV.

“No doubt I was harassed, sexually harassed. He was just giggling,” she said.

A spokesperson for Ali, 81, lives in Greenwich, Connecticut. “The so-called incident will not happen at all,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Sir. Fayed is not the perpetrator and will not be replaced. He will be strongly defending himself against these unproven claims.”

In September, a BBC documentary revealed how Mohamed al-Fayed, the former chairman of the billionaire, abused women for decades before his death in 2023. More than 20 women have shared the use of his company to embellish and exploit them for his rape or sexual assault. Harrods apologized, describing him as “a person intends to abuse power anywhere he operates.”

But in the months that followed, several female former employees stepped up, and his brothers – Salah and Ali who died in 2010 – also beat them up, deepening the once-to-be-man-asked one man. The scandal at the center.

As the last brother to live, Ali may still face possible impacts as the dark history of the Fidd family and the iconic department store they run have been unearthed. This month, the BBC published a narrative of three women, including Ms. McHan, who said Ali sexually assaulted them while working for Harrods in the 1990s.

Ms McHan said she believes what happened to her in Switzerland happened in Fayed’s wider system to leverage women. She said Alibaba “operated the system for his advantage.”

In stepping up, Ms. McHan and others point not only to Alibaba, but also to doctors, recruiters, HR professionals and others who have allegedly abused themselves in Fayeds’ business.

Three other women provided accounts to The New York Times, who said they were targets of Mohamed or Salah, and a court application to Harrods and the Ritz Paris ( Ritz Paris’s exploitation model says the brothers also own a hotel. Documents, emails and detailed information from other women supported by evidence provided additional evidence of their allegations.

Harrods, now owned by Katar’s sovereign wealth fund, said it would not comment on individual cases, but rather “support the courage of all survivors.”

A Haroldes spokesman said: “Their claims show the breadth of abuse Mohamed Fayed and have brought serious claims against his brothers Salah and Ali Fayed. allegations.”

These women were recruited to vulnerable positions.

The Egypt-born Fayed brothers co-founded a transportation business and then amassed oil, banking and real estate interests around the world.

They bought Liz Paris in 1979 and Harrods in 1985. When Mohamed moved to London in 1974, his name was added with “al-“, although his brothers still passed by Fayed. Mohamed later became famous for the romance between his son Dodi and Princess Diana of Wales, both of whom died in a 1997 car accident. Salah and Ali are still little-known numbers, but their business interests are intertwined.

All four women interviewed by The Times were recruited to implement training programs, bringing them closer to their brothers. Two women said they were the target of more than one brother.

In October 1993, while serving as a personal assistant to Mohamed, Ms. McQua was taken to Villa Windsor, Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. Mohamed rented the Paris mansion that he once lived in. After she went to bed, Mohamed entered her room with only a towel at her waist and then climbed into the bed.

“Good, gasping, moving, he was just serving you, that’s awful,” she said. He finally left when she mentioned her mother. Another Harrods employee, who requested anonymity to privacy issues, was traveling with Ms. McIlquham and confirmed the accommodation in Villa Windsor, as well as the date of October 13, 1993 – a date she recorded in her diary.

Ms. McHan said she did not tell anyone about Mohamed or Ali’s groping about her because she thought she would be blamed. She needed the job to pay the rent and then worked for Harrods until she left the UK in 1996. “I have to keep my distance from what is going on and as far as possible,” she said.

Rachael Louw, 53, joined Harrods in 1993 and was then recruited as Salah’s personal assistant the following year. In the summer of 1994, the supervisor told her to accompany Salah to his yacht and provide money for the new clothes. Before the pilot took them to Monaco, she traveled to France on the Harrods plane on Salah.

“I thought I would get files, paperwork, maybe I would make travel arrangements,” she said, but nothing was there.

Salah instructed her not to talk to the staff and repeatedly raised her sex. Every time, she rejected him. Then, one night, he climbed into her bed. “He said, ‘I’m lonely, I just want to sleep with you,'” she said. “It was the longest night of my life. I was just lying there, I couldn’t fall asleep.”

Afterwards, Ms. Lu asked to return to her former job on the store floor and attempt to continue her life. But in 1996, she said Mohammed called her to his Park Lane apartment for some paperwork. Ms. Luff said that after arriving there, Mohammed lifted her skirt and groped her.

Like Ms. McHan, she couldn’t speak out at the time. Ms. Luff said: “It’s just a part of my life, never open, never open.”

Other women have shared accounts in recent months during abuse by Salah, including in the BBC’s November report. In a lawsuit filed in London on January 29, a woman was granted anonymity by the court, claiming that Salah had drugged and raped her while working in Harolds and forced her to “terminate forced pregnancy”. document. She is suing the company.

The abuse expanded to other businesses owned by Fayeds.

Kristina Svensson, 56, served as a personal assistant to Mohamed at Ritz Paris from 1998 to 2000. She said senior staff at the Ritz people knew that employees were abused there, a charge supported by an email seen by The Times.

“We were not hired for real jobs. She was hired for sexual abuse,” she said.

When she first met Muhammad, he forced her to kiss her, she said, pushing her tongue into her mouth. Ms. Svenson said while being alone with him on another occasion, pushing her legs apart with his knees and then stretching her head into her pants co.

“I’m so scared, I can’t escape,” she said.

She said she felt unable to speak out because of the threat of losing her job. But eventually, she said she told a senior Ritz Paris executive about the abuse and told them she intended to resign. A few days later, she was fired.

Ms. Svensen outlined her allegations against Mohammed in a 2003 letter to a lawyer representing another hotel employee who said she also experienced sexual assault. In a letter seen in the Times, she noted that she had reported sexual abuse to senior staff before leaving Liz Paris.

At least another woman, Pelham Spong, told Ritz that Mohamed attacked her in an email exchange seen by the Times. Ms. Svensson’s account was included in the BBC documentary last year, and Ms. Spong had previously spoken publicly about her attack.

Ms. Spong is American, 23, and lives in Paris when a recruiter asked her in 2008 if she would serve as an assistant to the Fayeds in Monaco. “I remember thinking – I’m an ambitious woman. I think I’m smart, which sounds great,” Ms Spong said. In London, she underwent a gynecological examination, which the company’s doctors said would remain confidential – a process that many of Mohammed’s victims also narrated.

She was found to have been infected and prescribed an antibiotic. She was then taken to Mohamed’s office. “He sat down and he said, ‘You see a doctor. Have you taken care of this problem?” she said. “I was humiliated.”

She said he was willing to send her to a business school, pay her rent and give her cash in exchange for sexual acts. Then, she said, he grabbed her face and kissed her forcibly. After returning to Paris, she reported the attack to recruiters, who shared the information with Ritz’s executives. Ms. Spong was told she no longer needed the job. An email between the recruiter and Ritz Paris confirmed her account.

Ritz Paris said it is conducting an investigation led by external lawyers. “We are shocked by recent testimony and allegations of abuse,” Liz said in a statement. “We do not tolerate any form of violence or sexual coercion and want to express our deepest sympathy for the brave women who stand up. ”

Since the BBC documentary aired, Metropolitan Police in London have received more than 100 charges against Mohamed Al-Fayed. In November, police said they were investigating at least five people who could promote abuse.

Sigrid McCawley, managing partner of Boies Schiller Flexner, represents Ms. Spong and represent some of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, who highlights the importance of not only focusing on abuse, but also the system that takes place. sex.

“What we see from the Fayeds’ stories is just the legend of these promoters,” she said. “Because we see this systemic abuse happening and this very mature man’s good machine helped him commit these offense.”

Sarah is injured Contribution report.