Amy Mcilquham was 21 when she asked her to go to Gstaad in Switzerland on a long weekend with a boss.
Mrs. Mcilquham joined Harrods, a luxury department store in London in 1993. The Canadian on the program at work and abroad, was promoted from a store in a store to become a personal assistant of Mohamed al-Fayed, who co-owned a job with his younger brothers Salah and Ali.
In early 1994, she recalled, boarded a private jet of the company and flew to Gstaad to work as an assistant Ali.
Once she got there, there was no work, she said. She was alone in a house with Ali and a housewife. Then Ali, who was in the early 50s, took her to the pool. She remembers a black swimsuit and a false pearl necklace she wore.
“I only remember getting me, nibbling and pulling out of my waist and bottom, just grabbing and nibbling and pulling,” said Mrs. Mcilquham, who is now 52, in an interview. He believes it was a weekend on April 30, 1994, because he remembers the Eurovision Song Competition on TV.
“I was abused, sexually abused, no doubt. And he was just giggling,” she said.
Businessman Ali, who is now 81, and lives in Greenwich, Conn., Denied the allegations of Mrs. Mcilquham and others. “The alleged incidents just never happened,” a spokesman said in a statement. “Mr. Fayed is not the perpetrator and will not be fascinated. It will firmly defend themselves against these unfounded claims. “
In September, a BBC documentary He discovered that Mohamed al-Fayed, a former Harrods Harrods President, had abused women for decades before died in 2023. More than 20 women have shared reports on this raped or sexually attacked According to him, it is described in detail how he used his care and exploitation companies. Harrods apologized, describing him as “an individual who intended to abuse his power wherever he acted.”
But in the months since several former employees allegedly claimed that his brothers – Salah, who died in 2010, and but – also attacked, deepening the scandal that once appeared focused on one man.
As the last living brother, but he could still face possible consequences because the dark history of the Fayed family and the iconic department store they were leading. This month BBC has announced accounts of three women, including Mrs. Mcilquham, who said that but sexually attacked them while working for Harrods 1990.
Mrs. Mcilquham said she believed that what happened to her in Switzerland happened in a wider system in Fayed -owned companies to use women. She said that Ali “managed this system in his favor.”
Investing, Mrs. Mcilquham and others direct their finger not only to Ali, but also doctors, recruits, human resources professionals and others who have allowed alleged abuse at Fayeds.
The accounts given by the New York Times gave three other women who said they were targeting Mohamed or Salah, together with the court submission, signal the form of exploitation in Harrods and in Ritz Paris, a hotel who also owned brothers. Documents, E -State and confirming the details of other women provide additional evidence of their allegations.
Harrods, who is now owned by the Qatar Fund for Sovereign Wealth, said he would not comment on individual cases, but “supports the courage of all survivors in going out.”
“Their claims indicate the breadth of Mohamed Fayed’s abuse and raise serious accusations against his brothers, Salah and Ali,” said Harrods spokesman.
The women recruited to the positions to be vulnerable.
The Fayed brothers, born in Egypt, founded a shipping job together, and then collected interests on oil, banking and real estate around the world.
They bought Ritz Paris in 1979 and Harrods in 1985. When Mohamed moved to London in 1974, he added “al-” to his name, although his brothers still went to Fayed. Mohamed later became famous for the romance between his son Dodia and Diana, Princess of Wales, who are both of them died in a car accident in 1997. Salah and Ali remained less familiar personality, but their business interests were intertwined.
All four women with whom they interviewed the Times described that they had recruited into executive training programs that brought them closer to the brothers. Two women said they were targeting more than one brother.
In October 1993, while working as Mohamed’s personal assistant, Mrs. Mcilquham was sent to Villa Windsor, a Paris mansion, where they once lived Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson and who leased Mohamed. After she went to sleep, she said, Mohamed entered his room only with a towel around her waist and crawled into his bed.
“Groping, panting, touching, he just came in to you, it was awful,” she said. He eventually left when she mentioned her mother. The second Harrods employee, who asked to remain anonymous for privacy care, was on a trip with Mrs. Mcilquham and substantiated his stay at Windsor Villa, and the date – October 13, 1993 – which she recorded in her diary.
Mrs. Mcilquham said she did not tell anyone about the attack of Mohammed or Ali’s nibbling because she assumed she would blame her. She needed a job to pay the rent, and continued to work for Harrods until 1996, when she left Britain. “I had to distance myself from what was happening and to get as far as possible,” she said.
Rachael Louw, who is now 53, joined Harrods in 1993 before being recruited as a personal assistant of Salah next year. In the summer of 1994, the supervisor told her to follow Salah on his yacht and got money for new clothes. She traveled Harrods with Salah to France before the driver took them to Monaco.
“I thought I would get the files for the files, the paperwork I would put on, maybe I would make a trip agreement,” she said. But there was nothing, she said.
Salah instructed her not to talk to the staff and suggest sexually repeatedly. She rejected him every time. Then one night he climbed into her bed, she said. “He said,” I’m lonely, I just want to sleep with you, “she told.” It was the longest night of my life. I just lay there and couldn’t sleep. “
Later, Mrs. Louw asked to return to her previous upstairs job and tried to continue with her life. But in 1996, she said that Mohamed called her to his apartment Lane for a particular paperwork. Once there, Mohamed put his hand on the skirt and crushed it, Mrs. Louw said.
Like Mrs. Mcilquham, she was not able to speak at the time. “This was just a part of my life I’ve put in the box and never opened up,” said Mrs. Louw, who also talked about her experiences with Sky News this month.
Other women have shared accounts in recent months from the abuse of Salah, including in November BBC report. In a lawsuit filed in London on January 29, a woman awarded the court anonymity, claimed that Salah drugged her and raped her While working for Harrods and forced her to “abolish forced pregnancy,” according to court documents. Sue the company.
Abuse has expanded to other Fayeds -owned companies.
Kristina Svesson, 56, worked at Ritz Paris from 1998 to 2000 as a personal assistant Mohamed. She said that senior employees in Ritz knew that employees were abused there, which is an allegation supported by the e -the time the Times saw.
“We were not engaged in real jobs. We are hired to have sexually abused,” she said.
When she first met Mohammed, he kissed her forcibly, she said, pushing his tongue into his mouth. On the second occasion when she was alone with him in the office, Mrs. Svesson said he pushed his legs knee and then pushed his head into his crotch.
“I was so, so scared and I couldn’t escape,” she said.
She felt he was unable to pronounce, she said, because of the threat that she would lose his job. But in the end, she said, she told a higher executive director at Ritz Paris about abuse and informed them that she was planning to resign. Days later, she was fired.
Ms. Svesson emphasized her allegations against Mohammed in a letter from 2003 to a lawyer who represented another hotel employee who had sex with sexual harassment. In the letter she saw the Times, she noted that she reported sexual abuse of higher staff before leaving Ritz Paris.
At least another woman, Pelham Spong, told Ritz that Mohamed had attacked her, in the exchange of e -Aplain seen by the Times. Both Mrs. Spong and Mrs. Svesson He spoke publicly about the attacks last year after a BBC documentary was aired.
Mrs. Spong, who is an American, was 23 years old and lived in Paris when he asked the recruit in 2008 if she would consider the job a assistant at Fayeds in Monaco. “I remember thinking – I’m a woman with ambition. I think I’m pretty smart, and this sounds amazing,” Mrs. Spong said. She received a gynecological exam in London, which the company’s doctor said would remain confidential – a process that also recounted many victims of Mohammed.
It was discovered that he had an infection and prescribed an antibiotic. She was later sent to Mohamed’s office. “He sat me down, and he said, ‘You saw a doctor. Did you take care of this problem? “, She said.” I was humiliated. “
He offered to send her to a business school, pay her rent and give her money, she said, in exchange for sex. Then, she said, grabbed her face and kissed her forcibly. Upon her return to Paris, she reported an attack on a recruit, who shared the data with the heads of Ritz. Mrs. Spong said she no longer needed her job. E -mail between the recruit and the Ritz Paris, seen in The Times, confirms her account.
Ritz Paris said he was conducting an investigation conducted by an external advisor. “We are alarmed with recent testimonies and allegations of abuse,” Ritz said in a statement. “We do not tolerate any form of violence or sexual coercion and would like to express the deepest sympathy for the brave women who have appeared.”
Metropolitan police have received more than 100 charges against Mohamed Al-Fayed since the BBC documentary. In November, police said they were research At least five people who may have made it easier to abuse.
Sigrid McCawley, a Boies Schiller Flexner partner who represents Mrs Spong and represented Some of the victims of Jeffrey EpsteinHe emphasized the importance of focusing not only on abuse, but also on the system where it happened.
“What we’ve seen with Fayed’s story is just a saga that breaks these triggers,” she said. “Because we see that this systemic abuse is happening, and this well -greased machine of all these very sophisticated individuals who helped him to commit these crimes.”
Sarah Hurts contribute to reporting.
