Amy Mackelham was twenty -one -year -old when she was asked to go to Gustad, Switzerland, to spend a long weekend with her president.
Mrs. McilQuham joined Harrods, the luxury department store in London, in 1993. She is a Canadian on a program abroad, who was promoted from the store hall to become a personal assistant to Mohamed Al Fayed, who participated in owning business with his young brothers, Salah and Ali.
In early 1994, she remembers that she had boarded the company’s private plane and went to GSTAAD to work as an assistant to Ali.
She said that as soon as she got there, there was no work to do it. She was alone in the chalet with Ali and the home of the house. Then Ali, who was in his early fifties, took it to a swimming pool. She remembers black swimwear and the fake pearl she was wearing.
“I only remember him withdraws me, the sparkling and clouds from the waist and asphalt, just seize, encouragement and clouds,” said Ms. Mcilquham, now 52 now in an interview. She believes she was the weekend on April 30, 1994, because she remembers the European song competition on TV.
“I was harassed, sexual harassment, without a doubt. She said:” They were laughing. “
A 81 -year -old spokesperson for Ali denied and lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, Mcilquham’s allegations and others. “The alleged incidents have never occurred,” the spokesman said in a statement. “Mr. Fayed is not the perpetrator of the crime and will not be a scapegoat. He will defend himself strongly against these unfounded allegations.”
In September, a BBC documentary He revealed how Mohammed Al -Fayed, the former Chairman of Harrods, offended women for decades before his death in 2023. Sexual rape or assault Before him, in detail how he used his companies to prepare and exploit them. Harrods apologized, describing him as “an individual who was determined to misuse his strength wherever he was.”
But in the months that followed, many former female employees have claimed that his brothers – Salah, who died in 2010, and Ali – also attacked them, also deepening a scandal that once appeared on one man.
As the last living brother, Ali still faces possible repercussions, as the dark history of the Fayed family and the famous department store they have done is discovered. This month, the British Broadcasting Corporation has published the accounts of three women, including Mcilquham, who said this They were sexually assaulted while working with Harrods In the nineties.
Mrs. Mcilquham said she believed what happened to her in Switzerland fell into a broader system in Fayed companies to exploit women. She said that Ali “runs this system in his favor.”
When applying, Mcilquham and others refer to their finger not only in Ali but also on doctors, employees, human resources professionals and others who enabled the alleged abuse in Fayeds.
The novels given by the New York Times by three other women indicate that they were targeted by Mohamed or Salah, as well as the court files, a pattern of exploitation in Harrods and at the Ritz Paris Hotel, a hotel owned by the brothers as well. Documents, email messages and proof details of other women provide additional evidence of their allegations.
Harrods, now owned by the sovereign wealth fund in Qatar, said that he will not comment on individual cases but “supports the courage of all survivors in progress.”
A Harrod spokesman said: “Their demands indicate the breadth of ill -treatment by Mohamed Fayed and raised serious allegations against his brothers, Salah and Ali Fayed,” a Harrods spokesman said.
Women are recruited in positions where they will be weak.
The Fayed brothers, who were born in Egypt, established a shipping company together, then collected oil, banking and real estate sources around the world.
They bought Ritz Paris in 1979 and Harrods in 1985. When Muhammad moved to London in 1974, he added “AL” to his name, although his brothers are still going through. Muhammad later became known as romance between his son, Dodi, Diana, Amira Wales, and both He died in the 1997 car accident. Salah and Ali remained less famous, but their commercial interests were intertwined.
All four women described an interview with the Times that were recruited in the executive training programs that made them closer to the brotherhood. Two women said they were targeting more than one brother.
In October 1993, while working as a personal assistant to Muhammad, Mrs. Mcilquham was sent to Villa Windsor, Paris Palace where Edward VIII and Willis Simpson once lived, which Muhammad rented. After she went to sleep, Mohamed said that she entered her room with a towel only around his waist, and crawled into her bed.
She said: “Glory, eagerness, touch, and just go for you, was terrible.” He left at the end when she mentioned her mother. Another employee of Harrods, who asked not to be identified due to privacy concerns, was on the journey with Mrs. McClwikham and proved residency at the Windsor Villa, and the date – October 13, 1993 – which she recorded in her memoirs.
Mrs. Mcilquham said that she had not told anyone about the attack by Muhammad or a teacher Ali to her because she assumed that she would be blamed. She needed the job to pay her rent, and continued to work in Harrods until 1996, when she left Britain. She said, “I had to get away from what was going on, and I go as far as possible.”
Rachel Low, who is now 53 years old, joined Harrods in 1993 before being recruited the following year as a personal assistant to Salah. In the summer of 1994, the supervisor told Salah to Yakht and got money for new clothes. She traveled on Harrods with Salah to France before the driver took them to Monaco.
She said, “I thought I would give files to submit them and papers to put them, perhaps I will make travel arrangements,” she said. She said nothing, but there was nothing.
Salah ordered her not to talk to the employees and present it sexually several times. Every time, I rejected it. Then, one night, she ascended to her bed. “He said,” I am alone, I just want to sleep with you. “It was the longest night in my life. I just lying there and I couldn’t sleep.”
After that, Mrs. Lo asked to return to her previous job in the store hall and tried to move forward in her life. But in 1996, she said that Muhammad summoned her to his apartment, Park Lin for some paper works. Lu Lu said that once you get there, Muhammad put his hand in her skirt and touch.
Like McilQuham, you didn’t feel the ability to speak at the time. Mrs. Lau said, she She talked about her experiences With Sky News this month.
Other women have participated in the recent months of being abused by Salah, including in November BBC report. In a lawsuit filed in London on January 29, a woman was granted not to be identified by the court, He claimed that Salah was anesthetized and raped her While she worked with Harrods and forced her to “end forced pregnancy,” according to court documents. It sues the company.
The abuse of other companies owned by Fayeds.
Christina Svinson, 56, worked in Ritz Paris from 1998 to 2000 as a personal assistant to Muhammad. She said that senior employees in Ritz knew that the employees were abused there, a claim supported by an email that the Times saw.
“We were not appointed for real jobs.” We have been appointed to sexual assault. “
When I first met Muhammad, she accepted her by force, and she pushes his tongue in her mouth. On another occasion when she was alone with him in an office, Mrs. Svinson said he paid her legs with his knee opening and then pushed her head to the climb.
She said, “I was very afraid, and I couldn’t escape.”
She said she was unable to speak her because of the threat of losing her job. But in the end, she said, she told Ritz Paris’s senior executives and informed them that she was planning to resign. A few days later, she was shot.
Mrs. Svinson explained her allegations against Mohamed in a 2003 speech to a lawyer representing another hotel employee who said she was also sexually assaulted. In the letter, which was seen in the Times, I noticed that she reported the sexual assault of senior employees before leaving Ritz Paris.
At least another woman, Bilham Spong, told Ritz that Mohamed had assaulted her, in an email exchange that the Times saw. Ms. SvenssonAn account in the BBC documentary was included last year, and Mrs. Spong She has already spoken publicly about her assault.
Mrs. Sponge, an American, was twenty -three years old and lived in Paris when he asked one of the recruits in 2008 whether she would be considered the job as an assistant in VIDES in Monaco. “I remember thinking – I am a woman with an ambition. Ms. Sponge said:“ I think I am somewhat smart, and this seems amazing. ”In London, I was given an examination of gynecology.
It was found that she suffers from an infection and described antibiotics. After that, it was sent to the office of Muhammad. He sat down to the bottom, and said: “I saw the doctor. Did you take care of this problem? “I was insulted.”
She said that she offered her to the College of Business Administration, paid her rent and gave her money, in exchange for sex. Then, she said, grabbed her face and accepted her by force. Upon returning to Paris, I reported the attack on the recruiter, who participated in the information with the executives in Ritz. Mrs. Spong was told that she no longer needed the job. Email messages between the recruiter and Ritz Paris, which the Times sees, confirms their account.
Ritz Paris said he was being investigated by an external lawyer. “We are concerned about testimonies and the claims of recent abuse,” Ritz said in a statement. “We do not tolerate any form of violence or sexual coercion, and we would like to express sympathy for the courageous women who advanced.”
The Metropolitan police in London have received more than 100 allegations against Mohamed Al -Safra since the BBC documentary broadcast. In November, the police said it was Investigation At least five people may facilitate ill -treatment.
Sigrid McCawley, the administrative partner of Boies Schilller Flexner, who represents Mrs. Sponge and represents Some victims of Jeffrey EpsteinHe stressed the importance of focusing not only on ill -treatment, but also on the system in which it happened.
She said: “What we saw with the Fayeds story is just an epic that holds these enabling factors.” “Because we see that this systematic abuse occurs, and this fake machine of all these very advanced individuals that helped him commit these crimes.”
Sarah hurts The reports contributed.
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