LONDON: A legal team representing women alleging rape and sexual assault by the late Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed said on Saturday it received over 150 new enquiries, including from women accusing the former Harrods owner.

The BBC released a documentary and podcast on Thursday in which Fayed is accused by multiple women who worked at the London luxury department store of sexual assault, including five accusing him of rape. The new enquiries included a “mix of survivors and individuals with evidence” about Fayed, the legal team confirmed to AFP, after announcing it was representing 37 women accusing Fayed of sex abuse.

Comparing the scale and nature of the case to claims made against fallen figures like Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein, lawyers said the allegations included some girls who were just 15 and 16 at the time of the alleged assault. The team is bringing claims against Harrods for enabling the “systematic abuse” of its employees, many hired as Fayed’s personal assistants and secretaries, over a period of 25 years. The accusers say assaults took place at Fayed’s apartments in London, residences in Paris, and on trips abroad from Saint-Tropez to Abu Dhabi.

The upmarket department store, which Fayed sold in 2010, said it was “utterly appalled” by the allegations and had received new enquiries as well since the BBC investigation. The Harrods website now has a form that victims can complete, adding that it had an “established process” for those affected to claim compensation. The legal team also said it was representing women who were employed by the Ritz hotel — which was also owned by the mogul.

A former manager of the women’s team at Fulham FC, also owned by Fayed until 2013, said the players were “protected” from Fayed. “We were aware he liked young, blonde girls. So we just made sure that situations couldn’t occur,” Gaute Haugenes, who managed the team from 2001 to 2003, told the BBC on Saturday. A Fulham FC spokesperson said the club was “deeply troubled and concerned”.

“We are in the process of establishing whether anyone at the club is or has been affected,” the spokesperson added. — AFP