- The investigation targets an alleged international network involved in trafficking women for Al-Fayed and his brother
- Authorities have held individuals for questioning and are analyzing digital evidence
PARIS: French police have searched two Paris properties linked to Mohamed Al-Fayed, the Ritz hotel and Villa Windsor, as part of an investigation into a suspected international network that allegedly trafficked women for the late billionaire, the Paris prosecutor’s office told AFP Tuesday.
The operations in mid-October represent a development in a probe launched in 2025 to track down accomplices of Fayed and his brother, Salah Al-Fayed.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said individuals had been held for questioning in the investigation and authorities were analizing computers, phones and other digital media.
Along with the searches and evidence-gathering operations at the emblematic Paris addresses, authorities also investigated Mohamed Al-Fayed’s former property on the French Riviera, the Castel Sainte-Therese in Saint-Tropez.
The Egyptian-born tycoon, who died aged 94 in 2023 with no charges brought against him despite multiple complaints, owned the Ritz as well as the London luxury department store Harrods and the Fulham football club.
He lived at the Villa Windsor, the famous former British royal residence in the Bois de Boulogne in western Paris that the Al-Fayed family had made their favorite holiday home in the French capital.
Victims cited the locations as the sites of alleged abuse by Fayed.
The Paris prosecutor’s office in the summer of 2025 opened an investigation into claims of aggravated human trafficking, providing prostitutes and rape in a bid to shed light on the alleged network and track down accomplices.
The alleged trafficking ring is believed to have extended into France, particularly at the Ritz and on the French Riviera.
France’s anti-human trafficking unit has interviewed at least five complainants as part of the investigation.
Sources close to the case told AFP that the recent searches and detentions for questioning were carried out in connection with the probe.
The investigation is running parallel to British proceedings linked to the wide-ranging scandal over alleged sexual abuse involving Mohamed Al-Fayed.
