Amy McIlquham was 21 when she was requested to go to Gstaad, Switzerland, for an extended weekend along with her boss.
Ms. McIlquham had joined Harrods, the luxurious division retailer in London, in 1993. A Canadian on a work-abroad program, she was promoted from the store ground to grow to be a private assistant to Mohamed al-Fayed, who co-owned the enterprise along with his youthful brothers, Salah and Ali.
In early 1994, she recalled, she boarded the corporate’s personal jet and flew to Gstaad to work as an assistant to Ali.
As soon as she acquired there, nonetheless, there was no work to do, she stated. She was alone within the chalet with Ali and a housekeeper. Then Ali, who was in his early 50s, took her to a swimming pool. She remembers the black swimsuit and pretend pearl necklace she was sporting.
“I simply bear in mind him pulling me in, the groping and the pulling in from the waist and my backside, simply grabbing and groping and pulling,” stated Ms. McIlquham, now 52, in an interview. She believes it was the weekend of April 30, 1994, as a result of she remembers the Eurovision Tune Contest was on TV.
“I used to be molested, sexually molested, definitely. And he was simply guffawing,” she stated.
A spokesman for Ali, who’s now 81 and lives in Greenwich, Conn., denied the allegations from Ms. McIlquham and others. “The alleged incidents merely by no means occurred,” the spokesman stated in an announcement. “Mr. Fayed just isn’t a perpetrator and won’t be scapegoated. He’ll robustly defend himself in opposition to these unsubstantiated claims.”
In September, a BBC documentary revealed how Mohamed al-Fayed, the billionaire former chairman of Harrods, had abused girls for many years earlier than he died in 2023. Greater than 20 girls shared accounts of getting been raped or sexually assaulted by him, detailing how he used his corporations to groom and exploit them. Harrods apologized, describing him as “a person who was intent on abusing his energy wherever he operated.”
However within the months since, a number of feminine former workers have come ahead to allege that his brothers — Salah, who died in 2010, and Ali — additionally assaulted them, deepening a scandal that after appeared centered on one man.
Because the final dwelling brother, Ali may nonetheless face attainable repercussions because the darkish historical past of the Fayed household and the enduring division retailer they ran is unearthed. This month, the BBC revealed the accounts of three girls, together with Ms. McIlquham, who stated that Ali sexually assaulted them while they worked for Harrods within the Nineteen Nineties.
Ms. McIlquham stated that she believes what occurred to her in Switzerland occurred inside a broader system at Fayed-owned corporations to take advantage of girls. She stated that Ali “operated this method to his benefit.”
In coming ahead, Ms. McIlquham and others level a finger not solely at Ali but additionally on the medical doctors, recruiters, human useful resource professionals and others who enabled the alleged abuse on the Fayeds’ companies.
Accounts given to The New York Occasions by one other three girls who stated that that they had been focused by Mohamed or Salah, along with courtroom filings, sign a sample of exploitation at Harrods and on the Ritz Paris, a lodge the brothers additionally owned. Paperwork, emails and corroborating particulars from different girls present further proof of their allegations.
Harrods, which is now owned by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, stated it might not touch upon particular person instances however “helps the bravery of all survivors in coming ahead.”
“Their claims level to the breadth of abuse by Mohamed Fayed and lift severe allegations in opposition to his brothers, Salah and Ali Fayed,” a spokesperson for Harrods stated.
The ladies have been recruited into positions the place they might be susceptible.
The Fayed brothers, who have been born in Egypt, based a delivery enterprise collectively after which amassed oil, banking and actual property pursuits world wide.
They purchased the Ritz Paris in 1979 and Harrods in 1985. When Mohamed moved to London in 1974, he added “al-” to his title, although his brothers nonetheless glided by Fayed. Mohamed later grew to become identified for the romance between his son, Dodi, and Diana, Princess of Wales, who each died in a 1997 car crash. Salah and Ali remained lesser-known figures, however their enterprise pursuits have been intertwined.
All 4 girls interviewed by The Occasions described being recruited into govt coaching applications that introduced them nearer to the brothers. Two girls stated that that they had been focused by a couple of brother.
In October 1993, whereas working as Mohamed’s private assistant, Ms. McIlquham was despatched to Villa Windsor, the Paris mansion the place Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson as soon as lived, and which Mohamed had leased. After she went to sleep, she stated, Mohamed entered her room with only a towel round his waist, and crawled into her mattress.
“The groping, the panting, the touching, him simply moving into for you, it was terrible,” she stated. He finally left when she talked about her mom. One other Harrods worker, who requested to stay nameless over privateness considerations, was on the journey with Ms. McIlquham and corroborated the keep on the Villa Windsor, and the date — Oct. 13, 1993 — which she had recorded in her diary.
Ms. McIlquham stated that she hadn’t advised anybody in regards to the assault by Mohamed or Ali’s groping of her as a result of she assumed that she can be blamed. She wanted the job to pay her lease, and she or he continued working for Harrods till 1996, when she left Britain. “I needed to distance myself from what was happening, and get as distant as I may,” she stated.
Rachael Louw, now 53, joined Harrods in 1993 earlier than being recruited the next 12 months as a private assistant to Salah. In the summertime of 1994, she was advised by a supervisor to accompany Salah to his yacht and was given cash for brand spanking new garments. She traveled on a Harrods jet with Salah to France earlier than a driver took them to Monaco.
“I assumed I’d be given recordsdata to file, paperwork to place away, perhaps I’d be making the journey preparations,” she stated. However there was nothing, she stated.
Salah instructed her to not speak to the employees and propositioned her sexually a number of occasions. Every time, she rebuffed him. Then, one evening, he climbed into her mattress, she stated. “He stated, ‘I’m lonely, I simply wish to sleep with you,’” she recounted. “It was the longest evening of my life. I simply lay there and I couldn’t sleep.”
Afterward, Ms. Louw requested to return to her earlier job on the store ground and tried to maneuver on along with her life. However in 1996, she stated that Mohamed summoned her to his Park Lane condo for some paperwork. As soon as there, Mohamed put his hand up her skirt and groped her, Ms. Louw stated.
Like Ms. McIlquham, she didn’t really feel capable of converse out on the time. “This was simply part of my life I put right into a field and by no means opened up,” stated Ms. Louw, who additionally spoke about her experiences with Sky Information this month.
Different girls have shared accounts in latest months of being abused by Salah, together with in a November report by the BBC. In a lawsuit filed in London on Jan. 29, a lady, who was granted anonymity by the courtroom, alleged that Salah drugged and raped her whereas she labored for Harrods and that he coerced her into “terminating a pressured being pregnant,” in accordance with courtroom paperwork. She is suing the corporate.
The abuse prolonged to different companies owned by the Fayeds.
Kristina Svensson, 56, labored on the Ritz Paris from 1998 to 2000 as a private assistant to Mohamed. She stated that senior employees on the Ritz knew that workers have been being abused there, an allegation supported by an e-mail seen by The Occasions.
“We weren’t employed for actual jobs. We have been employed to be abused sexually,” she stated.
When she first met Mohamed, he forcibly kissed her, she stated, shoving his tongue in her mouth. On one other event when she was alone with him in an workplace, Ms. Svensson stated he shoved open her legs along with his knee after which thrust her head into his crotch.
“I used to be so, so afraid, and I couldn’t get away,” she stated.
She felt unable to talk out, she stated, due to the specter of dropping her job. However finally, she stated, she advised a senior govt on the Ritz Paris in regards to the abuse and knowledgeable them that she was planning to resign. Days later, she was fired.
Ms. Svensson outlined her allegations in opposition to Mohamed in a 2003 letter to a lawyer representing one other lodge worker who stated she had additionally skilled sexual assault. Within the letter, seen by The Occasions, she famous that she had reported the sexual abuse to senior employees earlier than leaving the Ritz Paris.
A minimum of one different lady, Pelham Spong, advised the Ritz that Mohamed had assaulted her, in an e-mail trade seen by The Occasions. Ms. Svensson’s account was included within the BBC documentary final 12 months, and Ms. Spong has beforehand spoken publicly about her assault.
Ms. Spong, who’s American, was 23 and dwelling in Paris when a recruiter requested in 2008 if she would take into account a job as an assistant to the Fayeds in Monaco. “I bear in mind considering — I’m a lady with ambition. I believe I’m pretty good, and this sounds superb,” Ms. Spong stated. In London, she was given a gynecological examination that the corporate physician stated would stay confidential — a course of that many victims of Mohamed additionally recounted.
She was discovered to have an an infection and prescribed an antibiotic. Afterward, she was despatched to Mohamed’s workplace. “He sat me down, and he stated, ‘You noticed the physician. Did you care for that drawback?’” she stated. “I used to be humiliated.”
He supplied to ship her to enterprise college, pay her lease and provides her money, she stated, in trade for intercourse. Then, she stated, he grabbed her face and forcibly kissed her. On returning to Paris, she reported the assault to the recruiter, who shared the data with executives on the Ritz. Ms. Spong was advised that she was not wanted for the job. Emails between the recruiter and the Ritz Paris, seen by The Occasions, corroborate her account.
The Ritz Paris stated it was conducting an investigation led by outdoors counsel. “We’re alarmed by the latest testimonies and allegations of abuse,” the Ritz stated in an announcement. “We don’t tolerate any type of violence or sexual coercion and wish to specific deepest sympathy to the courageous girls who’ve come ahead.”
The Metropolitan Police in London have acquired greater than 100 allegations in opposition to Mohamed al-Fayed because the BBC documentary aired. In November, the police stated they have been investigating a minimum of 5 individuals who could have facilitated the abuse.
Sigrid McCawley, managing companion of Boies Schiller Flexner who’s representing Ms. Spong and has represented some of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, emphasised the significance of focusing not solely on the abuse, but additionally on the system during which it occurred.
“What we’ve seen with the Fayeds’ story is only a saga that smacks of those enablers,” she stated. “As a result of we’re seeing this systemic abuse is occurring, and this well-oiled machine of all of those very refined people that helped him commit these crimes.”
Sarah Hurtes contributed reporting.
