by Mohamed al-Fayed, the former owner of Harrods, is said to have raped and sexually assaulted a series of women who worked at the department store.
Five women said the billionaire, who died last year aged 94, raped them, while another 20 claimed he sexually assaulted them.
The women, who worked at Harrods from the late 1980s to the 2000s, said attacks were carried out at the company’s offices, in Fayed’s flat in London or on foreign trips, often at the Ritz hotel in Paris.
It is claimed he would regularly tour the sales floor of the department store to identify young female assistants he found attractive before isolating and assaulting them.
The BBC revealed the allegations in a documentary and podcast entitled Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods. In the exposé, the broadcaster claims Harrods not only failed to intervene but also helped cover up allegations against Fayed.
The current owners of Harrods said they were “absolutely horrified” by the allegations, stressing that the company today is “very different”.
Bruce Drummond, a barrister from a legal team representing some of the women, said: “The spider’s web of fraud and abuse in this company was unbelievable and very dark.”
Speaking to the BBC, one of his alleged victims, Sophia, who worked as his personal assistant from 1988 to 1991, said he tried to rape her more than once. She said: “It was bad.”
After Fayed appeared in two series of The Crown on Netflix, she spoke about her anger while portraying him as a pleasant and gregarious character.
Sophie, who did not give her middle name, said: “That makes me angry – people shouldn’t remember him like that. It’s not like it was.”
Another alleged victim, Rachel – not her real name – who was 19 at the time, stayed in one of Fayed’s missing flats rather than take a taxi home after working late on a Harrods deal .
He then invited her to his personal apartment, where he asked her to sit on the bed, his hand on her leg and a firm grip, she said.
She added: “I made it clear that I didn’t want that to happen. I did not give consent. I wanted it to be over. I remember feeling his body on me, his weight. Just hear him making the noise. And just going somewhere else in my head.”
Rachel told the BBC: “He raped me. Afterwards, you blame yourself. You’re there to do a job, and here’s your boss standing in front of you in a dressing gown. And so even when you’re trying to get out of the story, I’m trying not to offend him.”
Gemma is another alleged victim who claims Fayed raped her when they were working at Harrods.
Gemma was Fayed’s personal assistant from 2007 to 2009. She told how she was subjected to a personal medical examination shortly after starting the job, which she now believes was to test for sexually transmitted diseases.
When asked if she had to undergo an “invasive gynecological examination” after starting the role, she told the BBC’s Today Programme: “Yes. So that was one of the selling points, is, oh, you get these medical checks, and it’s really good.
“You know, they sold it to me that they do mole mapping, and they’ll check you, they’ll screen you for breast cancer and everything like that.
“So I just went with the flow. It was all part of being involved. They said you have to have it to be able to work in the chairman’s office.”
She added: “The gynecological tests for me were like a smear test. And I didn’t have a smear test at that point, being 24. It wasn’t on my radar, and I didn’t know which one it was.
“So when I got there they did the smear test and they did other tests, one of them checking the ovaries, which I had never heard of before.
“And to this day, I didn’t have one, I wasn’t asked to have one, and that was very invasive. She meant to put her hand in and check. To this day, I don’t know why.
“He was definitely looking for it [STIs]because I still got the doctor’s reports, and they listed things like, you know, clear about chlamydia or all of those things.
“Doing an administrative job makes no sense compared to checking your ovaries. But at the time, I was told that was what was needed and if I wanted the job I had to do it.”
Fayed was accused of groping and sexually assaulting female employees throughout his life, including an alleged rape that was investigated by police in 2015 but did not result in any charges.
Born in Egypt, Mr Fayed was a businessman in the Middle East before moving to the UK in the 1970s. He took control of Harrods in 1985 and bought the Ritz hotel in Paris in 1979. He was also the owner of Fulham FC between 1997 and 2013.
His son Dodi died in a car accident in Paris with Diana, Princess of Wales. In the decade following the incident, he repeatedly claimed that Dodi had been murdered in a plot by the British establishment.
But he was forced to reluctantly concede victory after a six-month inquest in 2007 and 2008. The jury returned verdicts of unlawful killing for both the Princess and Dodi, but blamed chauffeur Henri Paul’s drink-driving, who also died in the accident.
After 26 years at the helm of Harrods, Fayed sold it to the Qatari royal family for a reported £1.5 billion in 2010. At the time, he said problems with pension fund trustees were behind his decision to sell.
Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods is on BBC Two at 9pm on Thursday and is now available on BBC iPlayer. All five episodes of World of Secrets: Al-Fayed, Predator at Harrods are available on BBC Sounds
