Late Mohamed Al-Fayed Was a ‘Monster,’ Says Lawyer as Survivor Outlines Alleged Abuse

Thirty-seven women have come forward to make sexual abuse claims against the former owner of Harrods who died in 2023

The former owner of Harrods the late Mohamed Al-Fayed was described as a “monster” by the lawyer representing some of his alleged victims on Friday, Sept. 20.

“I have never seen a case as horrific as this,” lawyer Dean Armstrong said at a press conference in London.

According to the BBC, five women have claimed they were raped by Al-Fayed — the father of Dodi Fayed, who died alongside Princess Diana in 1997 — before his death aged 94, in 2023.

As a survivor courageously outlined horrendous abuse in front of the world's media, Armstrong said that the women who have contacted lawyers “are not alone." They have set up a website to enable others to come forward. As many as 37 women had done so by Sept. 20, Armstrong added.

"Our single aim is to seek justice for the survivors of the sexual abuses of Mohamed Al-Fayed," Armstrong continued and claimed Fayed was "enabled" by an “unsafe system of work which the store Harrods "established, maintained and, we say, facilitated during his chairmanship."

Al-Fayed sold Harrods in 2010 and it is now being run by people unconnected to his tenure.

Armstrong said the case combined some of the "most horrific” elements of the cases of Jeffrey Epstein, film producer Harvey Weinsten and British broadcaster Jimmy Savile. He added, “We will say it plainly, Mohamed Al-Fayed was a monster. But he was a monster enabled by a system — a system that pervaded Harrods."

He welcomed the "admission” from Harrods in a statement on Thursday, Sept. 19 that they had “failed these women.” But he added, “It is time they took responsibility, and it is time that they set matters right. That is something they should do as soon as possible.”

The owners of the store said in a statement they were “utterly appalled by the allegations" when they emerged on Thursday, Sept. 19.

“These were the actions of an individual who was intent on abusing his power wherever he operated and we condemn them in the strongest terms. We also acknowledge that during this time as a business we failed our employees who were his victims and for this we sincerely apologize.”

“The Harrods of today is a very different organization to the one owned and controlled by Al-Fayed between 1985 and 2010, it is one that seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything we do.”

Related: Late Mohamed Al-Fayed, ex-Harrods Owner Whose Son Died Alongside Princess Diana, Accused of Multiple Rapes

“While we cannot undo the past, we have been determined to do the right thing as an organization, driven by the values we hold today, while ensuring that such behavior can never be repeated in the future.”

One of the survivors, who was named only as Natacha, said on Friday, Sept. 20 that she finally had “the opportunity and freedom to speak up” and was also doing so for those who were “silenced and suffered at the hand of the predator Mohamed Al-Fayed.” Many of the other women were also in the room.

"I was just 19 years old. Young, naive, and totally innocent," she explained about the moment she got an interview for a role working for Al-Fayed. She was excited and could "not believe how lucky she was,” she added.

She said he “was clever and highly manipulative. He behaved like a father figure.” He would ask seemingly kind questions and offered her money for gifts and new work clothes.

Related: Inside Mohamed Al-Fayed's Royal Family Obsession in Wake of Rape Allegations

"Unbeknownst to me, I had walked into a lion's den," she added. “A layer of cover ups, deceit, lies, manipulation, humiliation and gross sexual misconduct. The chairman preyed on the most vulnerable.”

She was subjected to "an unnecessary and intrusive" medical examinations and never given the results. "In hindsight, I was being checked for purity," she added.

Natacha told the press conference that private meetings often "turned into more.”

“A forced kiss, his hands gripping your face to his lips, or pulling you down on his lap where his hands were free to explore any part of your body that he wished.”

"These incidents lasted seconds but the fear instilled left me paralyzed," she said.

One night she said was asked to stay late and Al-Fayed “summoned me up to his private apartment” for a work meeting. The door was locked behind her and she was handed champagne, "There were sex toys on view. I felt petrified," she said.

She sat at the very end of the sofa. "My boss, the person I worked for, pushed himself on me," Natacha said.

“I managed to kick free and free myself. I ran towards the door. I told him I was meeting my father for dinner, that he would be worried that I was late. He just laughed at me. He composed himself and told me in no uncertain terms that I was never to breathe a word of this to anyone."

“If I did I would never work in London again and he knew where my family lived. I felt scared and sick,” she added.

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One of the lawyers on the team is leading women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred. “I am very familiar with how powerful men use their wealth, positions and power and fame to subject women and girls to sexual abuse,” she said on Friday, Sept. 20.

She added that many women “dreamed” of working at Harrods but “underneath [it’s] glitz and glamour was a toxic, unsafe and abusive environment.”

"We say something was rotten at the core of Harrods,” she continued, before adding that the women who have come forward are “role models in courage. They know what happened. This is a teaching moment for Harrods, a teaching moment for corporations.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.

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