French police have launched an investigation into sex-trafficking linked to the disgraced businessman Mohamed Al Fayed, who died two years ago.
The police investigation, ordered by the Paris prosecutor's office, will focus on potential acts of aggravated human trafficking… with multiple victims, according to correspondence seen by the BBC. Prostitution and one case of rape are also being investigated.
Al Fayed's Ritz Hotel in Paris will likely be a target of the investigation, amid claims from victims that staff knew about or facilitated the abuse of women.
In a statement, the Ritz said it was deeply alarmed by the allegations of abuse and would cooperate fully with authorities.
The trafficking investigation marks a new twist in a series of legal battles linked to Al Fayed's violent crimes and to the search – both before and since his death – for some sort of justice for his many victims.
An American woman, Pelham Spong, 40, played a key role in triggering this investigation in France, where it is alleged that Al Fayed moved young female staff from the Ritz to his private house in Paris and to various yachts and family homes on the Mediterranean coast.
Ms Spong applied for a job as a personal assistant for the Al Fayed family in Monaco in 2008 and reported experiencing abuse, including sexual assault.
Ms Spong said she didn’t realize she was a victim of sex trafficking until she saw the scale and scope of the abuse earlier this year.
“It’s a big step that the prosecutors decided to open an investigation,” her lawyer, Anne-Claire Le Jeune, told the BBC, mentioning that Ms Spong's case has strong supporting materials.
Al Fayed, already under scrutiny in the UK, faces reports from over 140 people linking him to various sexual offenses, and an earlier BBC documentary highlighted testimonies from numerous women claiming mistreatment at the hands of Al Fayed.
The severity of these allegations has prompted an investigation into how the authorities previously handled reports against him, as many victims are now seeking a formal acknowledgment of the alleged abuse.
