French Police Make Arrests After Searching Ritz Paris in Al Fayed Probe

French police have made the first arrests in an investigation into alleged abuse and trafficking by the late Mohamed Al Fayed, the former owner of Harrods and the Ritz Paris, according to the BBC and The Guardian. Officers searched three properties in mid-October, and several people were taken into custody for questioning and then released, the Paris prosecutor's office said.

The BBC reported that no one had been arrested before in connection with the alleged abuse and trafficking. The investigation is continuing, and digital material seized in the searches is being analyzed.

What investigators searched

The prosecutor's office said the searches took place in mid-October at the Ritz hotel in Paris's 1st arrondissement, at the Villa Sainte-Thérèse in Saint-Tropez, a former Al Fayed property, and at the Villa Windsor in Paris's 16th arrondissement. British investigators were present. The Metropolitan Police told survivors in a letter that its officers were there on Oct. 13 and 14, in what the BBC described as a joint operation with French authorities.

Al Fayed bought the Ritz Paris in 1979, and the Al Fayed family still owns it, the BBC reported. The Villa Windsor was a holiday home for the family. According to the BBC, it was earlier the home of King Edward VIII and his wife, Wallis Simpson, after his abdication. The Guardian reported that the Saint-Tropez villa is where Diana, Princess of Wales, stayed with her sons in the summer of 1997.

Several of Al Fayed's alleged victims have been interviewed by French investigators, the prosecutor's office said. It described the work as a preliminary investigation into allegations of human trafficking by an organized group, aggravated pimping by an organized group, and rape.

The allegations behind the case

Al Fayed died in 2023 at age 94. In September 2024, a BBC documentary and podcast featured accusations of sexual assault from more than 20 women. One woman said he assaulted her at the Ritz in Paris, and another said he raped her at the Villa Windsor.

The BBC reported that more than 400 alleged victims or witnesses have since come forward to lawyers. The Guardian cited survivors' groups saying more than 500 women have come forward about alleged abuse at Harrods, Park Lane, Fulham football club, the Ritz Paris and other places Al Fayed owned. The Metropolitan Police is investigating 169 victims who contacted it directly, The Guardian reported.

Pelham Spong told The Guardian she was trafficked in Paris on Al Fayed's orders in 2008 before being sent to London to be sexually assaulted by him. She said survivors deserve “actions, not words.” Al Fayed's brother, Salah Fayed, who died in 2010, was accused by a woman of trafficking and imprisoning her at the Balnagown Estate in Scotland, the BBC reported. Both brothers died without facing charges. Police Scotland said three people have been identified in connection with offending against a number of victims there.

What this means for survivors and the investigation

Survivors' groups say the French approach shows how the case could be handled in Britain. No One Above said France is treating the case as organized trafficking, led by specialists. It urged the National Crime Agency to take the investigation over from the Metropolitan Police. Justice for Fayed and Harrods Survivors called the searches “the beginning, not the end,” and asked for the same thoroughness at every property where survivors say they were taken or abused, including in Britain.

The Ritz Paris told Agence France-Presse it does not tolerate any form of harassment, abuse or inappropriate behavior, and is ready to cooperate fully with the judicial authorities.

The Paris prosecutor's office leads the investigation, which is conducted in liaison with British authorities. No charges have been announced.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by BBC News, The Guardian

Cover photo: Quintin Soloviev / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, cropped