Al-Fayed trafficking probe searches Paris Ritz

French police searched the Ritz hotel and Villa Windsor in Paris as part of an investigation into a suspected international network that allegedly trafficked women for the late billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed, the Paris prosecutor's office said.

The mid-October operations form part of a probe opened in 2025 to look for possible accomplices of Fayed and his brother, Salah Al-Fayed. Prosecutors said individuals had been held for questioning, and authorities were analysing computers, phones and other digital media.

Authorities also investigated Fayed's former Castel Sainte-Therese property in Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera.

Fayed, an Egyptian-born tycoon who died in 2023 at the age of 94, owned the Ritz, Harrods and Fulham football club. He was not charged before his death. Villa Windsor, a former British royal residence in the Bois de Boulogne in western Paris, had been used by the Al-Fayed family as a holiday home.

Complainants have cited the Paris locations as sites of alleged abuse by Fayed. The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation in summer 2025 into claims including aggravated human trafficking, providing prostitutes and rape. France's anti-human trafficking unit has interviewed at least five complainants.

The French investigation is running in parallel with British proceedings linked to alleged sexual abuse involving Mohamed Al-Fayed.