Mohamed Al-Fayed, the late billionaire with links to the royal family, has been accused of sexually abusing multiple women

• Late billionaire Mohamed al-Fayed has been accused of sexually assaulting multiple women.
• Lawyers claimed he used wealth and power to manipulate victims.
• Harrods, the luxury London store Al-Fayed owned, apologized, saying it was "utterly appalled."

Mohamed Al-Fayed, an Egyptian-born billionaire, owned Harrods, a luxury London department store, for 26 years. His son was Princess Diana's partner, Dodi Fayed, who died alongside her in a Paris car crash in 1997.

After decades of fame and controversy, Al-Fayed died last August aged 94.

Now, after years of mounting evidence and speculation, multiple women have come forward to say Al-Fayed sexually assaulted them.

Lawyers representing 37 people who said they were sexually abused by Al-Fayed — including former Harrods employees — spoke at a news conference reported by Sky News and BBC News.

The lawyers said Al-Fayed used "his wealth and power to manipulate and control victims," many of whom were aged between 19 and 24 when they started working for Al-Fayed.

Some were as young as 15 and 16, they added.

Lawyer Gloria Allred said the allegations against Al-Fayed included serial rape, attempted rape, sexual battery, and sexual abuse of minors.

She said there was "something rotten at the core of Harrods," adding that there was an abusive environment "underneath the glitz and glamour."

Friday's news conference followed an investigation by the BBC in which 20 former employees of Al-Fayed said he sexually assaulted or raped them.

"I made it obvious that I didn't want that to happen. I did not give consent. I just wanted it to be over," one unnamed woman, who said Al-Fayed raped her at his apartment in London's upmarket Park Lane, told the broadcaster.

Another unnamed woman, who said she was a teenager when the billionaire raped her, told the BBC he was "a monster, a sexual predator with no moral compass whatsoever."

She added that employees were viewed as his "playthings" and that he "actively cultivated fear."

The BBC's reporting uncovered how Harrods failed to intervene and protect the women who said they had been abused.

In an online statement, the store, which Al-Fayed sold in 2010, said, "We are utterly appalled by the allegations of abuse perpetrated by Mohamed Al Fayed. These were the actions of an individual who was intent on abusing his power wherever he operated and we condemn them in the strongest terms."

"We also acknowledge that during this time his victims were failed and for this we sincerely apologise. We are doing everything we can to fix this," the statement added.

The online statement also included a form where current or former employees who had been abused by Al-Fayed could get in touch.

Al-Fayed faced some accusations of sexual misconduct while he was still alive.

In 2008, CNN reported that he denied sexually assaulting a minor when questioned by police.

In a 2018 Channel 4 News investigation, multiple women said they were sexually harassed and assaulted by Al-Fayed.

Al-Fayed owned Harrods for 26 years and later owned Fulham Football Club and the Paris Ritz. According to Forbes, his net worth was around $2 billion when he died. He was reportedly buried alongside his son.

Princess Diana and her sons Prince William and Prince Harry, famously vacationed on Fayed's yacht in St. Tropez in 1997 — events that were dramatized in Netflix's "The Crown."