A woman who claims to have been raped and trafficked while working for Mohamed Al Fayed has filed a legal claim in a US court to oblige his surviving younger brother to give evidence about his alleged knowledge of the crimes.
The application filed at the US district court for Connecticut claims Ali Fayed, 80, has “unique and critical evidence” to give about a “more than two-decade-long trafficking scheme that ensnared and irrevocably injured what is reported to be more than 100 women”.
The applicant, named only as Jane Doe, says she was 19 when she was abused while working at Harrods, the luxury store in Knightsbridge owned by Mohamed Al Fayed until its sale in 2010 to the Qatari royal family.
She is seeking the disclosure from Ali Fayed as part of an intended legal claim in the UK courts. The younger Fayed, who has a home in Greenwich, Connecticut, is a former director of Harrods.
A judge will review the petition, and if it is successful, Ali Fayed could be required to turn over documents and sit for a deposition. He is not accused of any crimes. He did not respond to a request for comment.
It is the first legal action taken in any jurisdiction relating to the crimes allegedly committed by Mohamed Al Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94.
The applicant, who is retaining her anonymity, claims she was hired as a salesperson at Harrods but that she was quickly moved to report directly to Mohamed Al Fayed’s office, and from there she was trafficked between the UK and the US.
Her petition claims: “The day after the meeting at Mohamed Al Fayed’s office, she was escorted by Al Fayed aboard a Harrods helicopter and Harrods private plane.
“She was trafficked over a substantial period of time, raped and brutally abused. Jane Doe was subject to supervision and surveillance. During periods when she was trafficked, she interacted with Ali Fayed on multiple occasions.”
The petition adds: “A medical examination not arranged by Harrods after Jane Doe’s escape confirmed signs of her physical abuse. Jane Doe had been required to sign an expansive non-disclosure agreement that obligated her not to disclose any information about her employment or abuse, including to law enforcement.
“She was threatened and harassed and knew that Harrods’ head of security, John [Macnamara], had bragged of the family’s ability to handle the Metropolitan police and to commit crimes with impunity.
“Jane Doe knew this to be true as, while she was held captive, she was shown explicit Polaroid photographs, enough to fill a shoebox, of other women or girls who were physically and sexually abused as part of the Harrods trafficking venture.”
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Linda Singer, a former attorney general of the district of Colombia, who is representing the claimant, said: “This petition is the first action related to the extensive and egregious sex trafficking allegedly carried out over decades by Harrods and Fayed.
“While it does not pursue claims against Harrods, Fayed, or others who were involved, it seeks evidence related to those claims from the last of the three living Fayed brothers, who we believe is uniquely positioned to testify to who knew what and who did what.”
A Harrods spokesperson said: “Mr Ali Fayed ceased to be a director when the business changed ownership in 2010.”
Ali Fayed is listed on Companies House as the chair of the the luxury shirt maker Turnbull & Asser, a supplier to the royal family. A spokesperson in the company’s PR and marketing department said Ali Fayed’s team had been made aware of the petition. She said: “We are unable to comment.”
