A multi-decade,
multi-perpetrator,
multi-country
sex trafficking operation
As of March 2026, 154 victim-survivors have reported offences to the Metropolitan Police. Over 500 survivors have come forward.
Allegations of sexual offences by Mohamed Fayed span from 1977 to at least 2014. Similar allegations have been made against Fayed's brothers Salah Fayed and Ali Fayed. Several women have publicly alleged that they were abused by more than one brother or by a brother and another man. The Fayed trafficking network is now known to include Jeffrey Epstein.
Victims were subjected to a range of serious offences including: sexual assault; rape; false imprisonment; drugging; and physical violence—as well as verbal bullying. There are at least two reports of forced abortions.
Hundreds of young women and children were selected and delivered into harm’s way through a sophisticated, multi-decade, multi-perpetrator, multi-country sex trafficking operation.
Fayed companies used as conduits for trafficking
Harrods department store was the principal conduit for the recruitment, screening, grooming and harbouring of victims. Additional conduits were established at the Ritz Paris; Harrods aviation; Fulham Football club and at the Fayed family estates.
Victims were trafficked to Fayed-controlled locations where protections were diminished or absent. These locations included secure properties and vessels in England and Scotland; France; the United States; the United Arab Emirates; Switzerland and Monaco. Targets included children who attended the Fayed-owned West Heath school. The youngest known victim was 11 years old.
The press were aware of allegations that Fayed trafficked school girls before the brothers acquired Harrods: “Fayed would get a call at the same time each week from a phonebox and a woman would make arrangements to drop off a young girl who would be paid in cash: “The teenage girls were clearly coming from a private school”.
Britain's shame
Victims were controlled through multiple asymmetries of power—of age, seniority, and wealth—and through deliberate strategies of isolation, intimidation, and coercion. These included violence or threats of violence; drug-assisted rape and forced drug dependency; grooming; financial dependency; control of work and residency visas; surveillance of communications; and restrictions on contact with independent safeguarding professionals such as doctors, HR specialists, or the police. Prior to the abuse, victims were subjected to sexual health examinations and compelled to sign non-disclosure agreements.
Young women and children were moved through a supply chain encompassing vehicles; aircraft; airport ground operations; and security personnel. Victims trafficked to Fayed-controlled locations were isolated, often without access to private communication. Many had their travel documents confiscated. Even basic needs—when and where they could sleep or eat—were controlled. Other Fayed staff were instructed not to interact with them.
Following the abuse, victims were hounded and harassed. Women and children were subjected to threats of harm to themselves or loved ones. Some were subject to false imprisonment on Fayed properties including Harrods or apprehended by complicit police on jumped-up charges.
Those who were brave enough to report were met with apathy at best and at worst, obstruction of justice by corrupt officers. Victims who sought redress through civil litigation faced such daunting opposition that many were refused representation at all. Those who settled were compelled to agree to confidentiality and destroy their evidence. Payments to silence victims are reported to have been processed through Harrods payroll.
The Fayed/Harrods case, and the impunity of those who enabled, benefitted or looked the other way, is Britain's shame. Survivors will not allow it to happen again.