French police raid Ritz and Al Fayed villas in trafficking probe

French police fanned out across luxury addresses tied to the Al Fayed family this week, searching the Ritz hotel in Paris, the Villa Windsor and the Castel Sainte-Therese in Saint-Tropez, the Paris prosecutor's office told AFP. Investigators also held individuals for questioning and are combing through computers, phones and other digital media.

The searches mark a step forward in a probe opened in 2025 into aggravated human trafficking, procuring prostitutes and rape, aimed at identifying accomplices of Mohamed Al Fayed and his late brother, Salah Al Fayed. British authorities were present during the French operations, and the two countries' investigators are now sharing information.

Mohamed Al Fayed died at 94 in 2023 with no charges ever brought against him, despite multiple complaints. The Ritz is one of several high-end ventures where victims say they were abused, alongside Harrods, Fulham Football Club and a fleet of private jets, and victims have also alleged abuse at Villa Windsor — once home to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and reportedly earmarked for Dodi Al Fayed and Princess Diana before their 1997 death in a Paris car crash.

French investigators have heard from at least five complainants, the most recent in October, according to sources close to the case, with some still hesitating to come forward because of trauma or fear. Lawyers Eva Joly, Caroline Joly and Agathe Barril, who represent several complainants, said in a joint statement that new victims keep surfacing each month: “We are, however, only halfway through the investigations.” They described testimony pointing to an organisation in which immense personal wealth and a business empire were allegedly mobilised for sexual predation, “a mechanism devised with cold calculation and meticulous care.”

Complainants have described a system that recruited young women hoping for a career at Harrods or as assistants, subjecting them to invasive gynaecological examinations before placing them in invented jobs at the brothers' disposal. Some told AFP they believe they were drugged, and a former Ritz employee who was moved between France and Britain said trafficking cannot happen “without a highly organised group of individuals,” praising the French probe while accusing London's Metropolitan Police of still “beating around the bush” 30 years after the first complaints.

In a letter to survivors on Tuesday, the Met called its investigation one of the force's “largest and most complex,” saying 169 victims have now come forward. The force has questioned seven people suspected of enabling Mohamed Al Fayed, but none has been charged. The Ritz's management told AFP it “does not tolerate any form of harassment, abuse or inappropriate behaviour” and is ready “to cooperate fully with the competent judicial authorities.”