Multiple female ex-employees have accused Mohamed Al Fayed, the late billionaire and former chairman of Harrods, a luxury United Kingdom (UK) department store, of rape.

Fayed died last year at the age of 94.

The BBC said a documentary and podcast — Al-Fayed: Predator at Harrods — gathered evidence that during Fayed’s ownership, Harrods not only failed to intervene but helped cover up abuse allegations.

One woman said Fayed raped her at his Park Lane apartment, while another, who said the late billionaire assaulted her when she was a teenager, described him as a “monster”.

“A sexual predator with no moral compass whatsoever,” she added, saying all the staff at Harrods were his “playthings”.

“We were all so scared. He actively cultivated fear. If he said ‘jump’ employees would ask ‘how high’.”

Fayed owned Harrods for 26 years and later owned Fulham Football Club and the Paris Ritz.

Former staff told the BBC that the businessman would regularly tour the department store’s vast sales floors and identify young female assistants he found attractive, who would then be promoted to work in his offices upstairs.

The assaults would be carried out in Harrods’ offices, his London apartment, or on foreign trips—often in Paris at the Ritz hotel, which he also owned, or his nearby Villa Windsor property.

On Friday, lawyers representing the assaulted employees said many of them were aged between 19 and 24 when they started working for Fayed.

Some were as young as 15 and 16, the lawyers added.

Fayed sold Harrods to the Qatar royal family in a deal reported to be worth around 1.5 billion pounds in 2010.

The new owners issued a statement saying they were “utterly appalled” by the allegations of abuse perpetrated by 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,” the statement said.

“The Harrods of today is a very different organisation to the one owned and controlled by Al Fayed between 1985 and 2010, it is one that seeks to put the welfare of our employees at the heart of everything we do.”

The store offered its sincere apologises, saying it was prioritising settling claims in the quickest way possible to avoid “lengthy legal proceedings for the women involved”.

Forbes said Fayed’s net worth was around $2 billion when he died.

Davido, the Grammy-nominated Afrobeats star, has purchased a new Lexus SUV for Tunde Yussuf, his personal driver.

On Thursday, Yussuf, who is also a tour assistant to the singer, shared a photo of the Lexus RX with his 18000 followers on Instagram.

The driver, who is also referred to as Doro DMW, expressed his appreciation for the gift. He also showered prayers on Davido.

“Congratulations to me🙏🙏🙏🙏 God bless you 001 my boss @davido You no go ever fall my oga. OBO DAN DO AM AGAIN,” he wrote.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, the embattled rapper, has reportedly been placed on suicide watch at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The 54-year-old music mogul who was arrested at a hotel in Manhattan on Monday is currently facing federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges.

On Tuesday, Robyn Tarnofsky, the US magistrate judge, ordered that the hitmaker be sent to jail to await trial in his case. The Bad Boy Records founder was also denied bail.

Tarnofsky’s order followed after Diddy pleaded not guilty to the 14-page federal indictment against him.

On Thursday, People quoted sources at the prison as saying that the rapper has been placed on suicide watch for “preventative measures”.

It added that “Combs is in shock and his mental state is unclear”.

Prison occupants are placed on suicide watch as “supervisory precautions taken for suicidal inmates that require frequent observation,” according to the US Department of Justice National Institute of Corrections.

The news outlet did not reveal how long Diddy will remain under suicide watch, or if he is suicidal.

The rapper is expected to remain at the Metropolitan Detention Center ahead of trial — although the date has yet to be revealed.

The New York Times reports that the detention facility, which holds more than 1,200 people, has a reputation for violence, filthy conditions, food contamination, and suicides.

On Tuesday, federal prosecutors charged Diddy with sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy.

They alleged the rapper, with help from Combs Enterprise associates, ran an “enterprise that he engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor or, kidnapping, arson and other crimes”.

Combs was said to have “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct” from 2008 to now.

Diddy is the highest-profile musician to face sexual misconduct charges since Robert Sylvester Kelly, the R&B singer popularly known as R. Kelly.

Kelly was sentenced in 2022 to more than 30 years in prison for sexually abusing fans, some of them children, racketeering, and sex trafficking.