Mohamed Al Fayed He never accepted the official version of his son’s death. Dodi in the fatal accident Lady Di in 1997. He repeatedly targeted the CIA, but he was never able to clarify what happened before his death in September 2023. His reputation until then was that of a a successful businessmanthat he bought Harrods and even the English Fulham, with great sadness at not having been able to know what happened to his son. But it was hidden under the carpet”a monster, a sexual predator without any kind of moral compass.”
The last sentence of the previous paragraph is provided by one of his victims. Until 37 women claimed to have been victims of sexual abuse by the Egyptian businessman before his death at the age of 94. The well-known stories occurred during his time at Harrods and there were violationsThe women, of different ages – some of them teenagers – and from different positions in the company, mostly preferred to remain anonymous.
The events did not only occur in London. Paris, Abu Dhabi or Saint Tropez There were other scenarios in which victims recounted scenes of sexual abuse. “I remember feeling his body on me, his weight. Just hearing him make these noises. And… just going to another place in my head (…) He raped me,” one of the victims said in the BBC podcast that was released uncovered the case, called Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods —Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods.
The commotion caused was such that the current owners of Harrods had to react to the news. They were completely “dismayed”assuring that the company has changed a lot since then and has nothing to do with what happened then.
He “harrods predator” lived 94 years and died with a fortune, according to Forbes, 2.2 billion euros.
His beginnings
Mohamed Al-Fayed born in Alexandria on January 27, 1929, in a modest family, since his father was a renowned school teacher in the city. His economic rise occurred when he married, in 1954, the Saudi woman Samira Kashoggisister of the arms dealer Adnan Kashoggi.
At just 23, this opened the doors of money for him. Al Fayed began importing furniture Saudi Arabia at the request of his in-laws, who had welcomed him in a sensational manner. Before that, he was a soft drink salesman, according to various sources. Although another theory suggests that this was not the case, that he sold sewing machines before joining the Kashoggi family.
The truth is that his first known business relationship was in a shipping company. There he met one of the richest men in the world, the sultan of bruneiwith whom he formed a beautiful friendship and who is considered his patron.
Then he met Muda Hassanal Bolkiah. He ended up being his advisor.
Her life was in full swing when she divorced Adnan Kashoggi. He ran year 1956We can therefore say that it was a very short marriage, only two years. During this time, the couple produced a son: the unfortunate Dodi.
Your businesses
The good connections he maintained allowed him to do important business. It was not in vain that Al Fayed managed to buy the department store chain House of Fraser, Harrods included, in 1985 for approximately 842 million euros at the time. This was done with the jewel of London capitalism.
It was the same year that he remarried. Al Fayed remarried Heini Wathén, Finnish model with whom he had four children. Jasmin, Karim, Camilla and Omar They joined Dodi, forming the magnate’s five heirs.
From that point on, the tycoon’s activities continued to expand. Ritz Hotel ParisHe invested in hotel and mining companies and never left shipping companies behind.
Advisor to the Sultan of Brunei and obsessed with the death of Lady Di: the intense life of Mohamed Al-Fayed, in pictures
His name then began to appear in gossip magazines. Some claimed that he had gotten into coated paper after demonstrating his commitment to various philanthropic causes. However, Al Fayed was never very respected by some London elites, who came to refer to him as wogterm used pejoratively in England to refer to black-haired immigrants.
It was in 1997 when Al Fayed acquired a new company. In this case, a team in the Third Division of the English championship, the Fulham FC. The team based in the heart of London made them even more famous, bringing the black and white team to the Premier League and Europebecoming almost historic at this point in the century.
Everyone at Fulham was incredibly saddened to learn of the passing of our former owner and chairman, Mohamed Al Fayed.
We owe a great deal of gratitude to Mohamed for what he has done for our club, and our thoughts now go to his family and friends at this dark time.
– Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) September 1, 2023
The tycoon would get rid of English painting in 2013After sell it for around 200 million euros Shadid Khana Pakistani-American businessman. “The story of Fulham cannot be told without a chapter on the positive impact of Mr Al-Fayed as chairman. His legacy will be remembered for our promotion to the Premier League, a Europa League final and magical moments for the players and teams,” read the English club’s farewell statement after the sale.
However, the same year he bought the football team, he lost his son Dodi in a car accident. Since then, much of his life has been spent arguing that Ladi Di’s accident with her boyfriend was not a coincidence, but rather orchestrated.
What Al Fayed never achieved was british nationality. He asked for it twice. The first of them was refused in 1994 and the second in 1999two years after his eldest son’s accident.
Al-Fayed ultimately never succeeded in establishment British, who never supported the Egyptian tycoon’s takeover of Harrods. In fact, some even saw it as an affront.
The British Minister of Trade and Industry was also not in favour of the purchase. They understood from the British government’s portfolio that Al Fayed had lied to obtain the shares in the company and that “he was not trustworthy”.
Other scandals
It could be said that Al Fayed’s life has never been calm or normal. While the facts he is now accused of were still unknown to the public, the Egyptian businessman found himself embroiled in one of the biggest political scandals in the United Kingdom.
The year was passing by 1994 when it all started. He paid thousands of pounds to MPs conservatives for having taken to the House of Commons questions that interested him on a commercial level. It all ended with 1997When Jean Major and his government fell because of what was fought money for questions.
Al Fayed lifts an English Cup.
It was Al Fayed himself who confirmed that he had bought the Conservative MPs. Neil Hamilton and Tim Smith. He did this through an interview in The Guardian.
The last great feat in the history of the Egyptian businessman known to everyone as The Pharaoh It ended with the sale of Harrods in 2010 to Emirate of Qatar for some 1.7 billion euros.
Al Fayed died just over a year ago with everything already said and his funeral took place at London Central Mosque. However, although he had faced abuse scandals during his lifetime, his career had yet to tell an even darker chapter. Some former workers claimed it was an open secret. The Pharaoh He would pick the most beautiful young women to send to the top floor and have contact with them. What was unknown was his past as a dangerous sexual predator. Even Fulham FC has established a protocol to find out if this happened at the club while he was the owner of the team.
One of his victims described him as follows: “Mohamed Al Fayed was a monster, a sexual predator without any (…) We were all very afraid. He actively created fear. If he said ‘jump’, the employees would ask how high?”
