Mohamed Al-Fayed allegedly had a Ghislaine Maxwell-style ‘fixer’ who would procure pretty, young women off the streets for him to have sex with.
The glamourous blonde associate would frequent wealthy areas of west London dressed in designer clothes and driving a Porsche, a teenager who met the fixer has claimed.
She would approach attractive young women and build a rapport with them by boasting of her wealth and success before offering to introduce them to her rich businessman ‘friend’.
In fact, the woman – who is now in her 40s and runs her own recruitment company – was a senior executive at Harrods at the time and one of the disgraced billionaire’s closest allies.
She would approach mostly attractive young women in the street and invite them out for coffee or cocktails at swanky locations in London, building their trust with promises to help their careers.
She would then drive them to Fayed’s Park Lane penthouse apartment and hand them over to the monster – even boasting she found him a different girl ‘every couple of months’ but only when she finds somebody she considered ‘worth it’.
Mohamed Al-Fayed (pictured) had a Ghislaine Maxwell-style ‘fixer’ who would procure pretty, young women off the streets for him to have sex with
One woman (pictured) was warned by the fixer that Fayed may make inappropriate jokes or offer her cash but was advised to ‘go with it’
The woman (pictured) recalled meeting the fixer in 2013 – three years after Fayed sold Harrods
It comes days after a BBC documentary showed the Egyptian-born businessman and TV star to be a prolific sexual predator who for more than three decades used wealth and status to abuse girls and women on his payroll.
More than 20 told the Corporation how he’d assaulted them, with four saying they’d been raped. Some 13 were attacked at 60 Park Lane – a block of flats adjacent to the Dorchester Hotel.
But the key role played by the female exec in his crimes was not mentioned in the programme, prompting victims to bravely come forward to MailOnline to share their stories.
One, a 19-year-old student, claims she met the woman in 2013 – three years after Fayed sold Harrods – and after striking up a bond she was taken for cocktails before being driven to Fayed’s Park Lane penthouse.
On the drive over she said she was warned he may make inappropriate jokes or offer her cash but was advised to ‘go with it’.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, the victim, who we are not naming, said: ‘She told me all about her life and her fiancé. I wasn’t sure why we were gossiping like we were best friends when we were so different in age.
‘Then she just stood up and said she wanted to go and see him so we drove through Knightsbridge. I remember arriving at 60 Park Lane and pulling into this garage. It was like alarm bells going off in my head because suddenly I was trapped.’
After being escorted in a private lift up to a gold-lined boardroom with a long table in the centre and decorated with pictures of him meeting celebrities she believes were Bill Clinton and Michael Jackson the woman was then ushered alone by Fayed into his private apartment, which was decorated with family photos.
The victim, who MailOnline are not naming, said that ‘alarm bells were ringing’ and she felt ‘trapped’
More than 20 Harrods staff have told the Corporation how Fayed assaulted them, with four saying they’d been raped
She remembers feeling panic when the doors closed behind her – before he offered her fruit and champagne, which she declined, believing it could be spiked.
The teen claims she was then cornered by the then 84-year-old who demanded sex in return for an allowance of £2,500 per month and a free designer handbag of her choice from Harrods. He also allegedly suggested she could spend some time on his yacht in St Tropez.
She said she declined, telling him she was a virgin and had a boyfriend, to which Fayed told her: ‘I can give you the guidance, I’m very experienced’.
She claims the billionaire allowed her to leave without laying his hands on her but not before handing her £300 in £50 notes and writing his phone number on a piece of paper, urging her to ‘call me when you get randy’.
Outside the apartment, the teen burst into tears as she told the fixer – who she considered a friend – about the proposition.
She said: ‘In the apartment I just felt this fear and sense that it was wrong but I was young and naive and I thought maybe this is how people get jobs.
‘When I got back downstairs I just burst into tears, it was just a visceral reaction. I couldn’t believe he just propositioned me for sex. She [the fixer] started consoling me like a mum. She said ‘I’m so sorry you’re upset’.
‘I had a million questions, I remember wondering why he doesn’t just get prostitutes but she told me he likes smart, young pretty girls and is obsessed with not getting STDs so is tested every week by his personal doctor.’
But the woman then steered the conversation back to his offer, implying that she had had sex with Fayed herself, without explicitly saying it, and urged the teen to do the same because ‘It’s not that bad, it won’t take that long and after he will give you whatever you want.’
She claimed Fayed had paid for her luxury car, designer outfit and even breast enlargement surgery.
The billionaire allowed the woman to leave without laying his hands on her but not before handing her £300 in £50 notes and writing his phone number on a piece of paper, urging her to ‘call me when you get randy’
After the teen declined and took a taxi home, the fixer is said to have continued to pursue her via text messages telling her to ‘have a think about it and get back to me’.
Her run in with the powerful tycoon left her feeling shaken and fearing she may be kidnapped. She added: ‘I felt paranoid that he was really powerful and could come after me.
‘I remember walking around London looking over my shoulder worrying about vans, like one would pull up, the door would open and I’d be gone.
‘He never threatened me but he never needed to. I was in awe of his power and wealth.’
Another source told MailOnline the woman was known for trafficking attractive Harrods employees to his various homes to be sexually assaulted – for which she was paid in expensive jewellery and cash in brown envelopes.
Ghislaine Maxwell was a close associate of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein who was convicted in 2021 of recruiting and grooming women and girls for him.
British socialite Maxwell – serving a 20-year prison sentence in the US – helped identify women and girls as young as 14, groom them, lure them to Epstein properties, and urge them into interactions with Epstein that turned into sexual abuse.
Fayed, who died last year aged 94, sold Harrods in 2010 to Qatar Holdings for £1.5billion. The new owners could now face a bill for tens of millions of pounds from women who say he assaulted them.
It resembles how Ghislaine Maxwell would recruit women and girls for paedophile Jeffrey Epstein (pictured together)
In a press conference on Friday Dean Armstrong KC, who is representing 37 victims, said the case ‘combines some of the most horrific elements’ of those including Jimmy Savile, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein.
He added the change of ownership would not limit Harrods’ liability but also made it clear that ‘nothing was off the table’ in terms of pursuing wider redress.
He said: ‘This is, and was, a systematic failure of corporate responsibility, and that systematic failure is on the shoulders of Harrods.
‘We will not individualise those who we hold responsible. We are not going to get into the situation where there is any room for anyone to seek to avoid responsibility by saying,
‘It was their fault’.
‘So we pursue Harrods, and we are focused on Harrods at this stage, because of the collective corporate responsibility and vicarious liability that these acts and the evidence we have come across shows clearly.’
‘We will not accept that argument and we are pretty confident the courts won’t either.’
Harrods said in a statement: ‘We are utterly appalled by the allegations of abuse perpetrated by Mohamed Al Fayed. These were the actions of an individual who was intent on abusing his power wherever he operated and we condemn them in the strongest terms.
‘We also acknowledge that during this time as a business we failed our employees who were his victims and for this we sincerely apologise.
‘The Harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010, it is one that seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything we do.’
