Over 150 women on Saturday came forward with complaints of sexual misconduct by the late Harrods owner and Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed against them, with over 20 of them sharing their painful stories.
The film, which premiered on Thursday, reported on 14 cases, with five women alleging Al-Fayed raped them. Just hours after its release, the number of women accusing Al-Fayed skyrocketed to 37, with over 100 more joining on over the weekend.
Dean Armstrong, one of the attorneys representing the women, told LBC, another UK news outlet: We’re already signed up with 37 – we have overnight, certainly in excess of 150 more who have contacted us – we’re anticipating that it will be more than that.”
The Sun also reported: “A brave victim of ‘monster’ Mohammed Al Fayed says she was sexually assaulted in front of his children – as 150 more women step forward with claims.”
Armstrong criticized the former Harrods luxury department store owner, saying, “It was the facilities and resources of the body corporate that were being used to effectively enable this alleged behavior. That is something which must be addressed very urgently. There was a systematic failure of corporate responsibility. That systematic failure is on the shoulders of Harrods.”
It’s also noted that Armstrong represents women who were employed by Al-Fayed at the Ritz Hotel in Paris and is currently examining ” all entities that Al Fayed had involvement in,” including Fulham Football Club, which the late businessman owned from 1997 to 2013.
A statement from Fulham FC said, ” We are deeply troubled and concerned to learn of the disturbing reports following yesterday’s documentary. We have sincere empathy for the women who have shared their experiences. We are in the process of establishing whether anyone at the club is or has been affected.”
The BBC documentary revealed the Egyptian billionaire assaulted and raped women who worked at his luxury Harrods store in London between 1985 and 2010, as well as in Abu Dhabi, Saint-Tropez and Paris.