Seven women have accused West Ham co-owner David Sullivan of abusing his power to pressure young models into sex, in a joint BBC Panorama and Times investigation.
The allegations span several decades, beginning in the 1980s, and involve women who were in their late teens or early twenties seeking modelling work at Sullivan’s Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers.
The women accuse Sullivan, 77, of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour, including pressuring them for sex during business meetings in exchange for career advancement.
Sullivan said he “categorically” denies the claims, which cover the period during which he built a fortune from pornography, newspapers, and football.
Hours after BBC Panorama and the Times confirmed they would publish the investigation, Sullivan resigned as joint chair of West Ham, saying he wanted to fight what he called “factually incorrect and entirely false, decades-old allegations concerning my personal life.”
He described the investigation as “fundamentally unfair” and said he planned to sue the BBC.
The investigation also reveals that Sullivan has separately admitted paying for sex in the 1990s with a girl he says he believed was 16 or 17 years old, when he was in his 40s.
One woman, referred to as Florence, said Sullivan told her during a meeting at his Essex home that she would become one of his newspapers’ “regular girls” if they had sex.
Florence said she tried to put him off, including telling him she was on her period, before he manoeuvred her into a bedroom and penetrated her, which she said she did not want. She said she is “99.999999%” sure she told him: “I don’t want to, I don’t want to,” adding: “I don’t know whether it was a whisper. It wasn’t a scream.”
She said Sullivan told her afterwards: “Congratulations, you will be one of our new Sport girls and you’re going to get lots of work.”
Florence said she believes there was a “massive power imbalance” and that the encounter played a significant part in her mental health decline. “He took away my innocence… I was very suicidal for many years,” she said.
Sacha Wall is the only accuser who agreed to be named, recalling a 1998 meeting at Sullivan’s home where he suggested a glamour model was one of his “special friends” and that Wall “could have the same help” if she became one too.
Wall said she rejected him directly, and when she tried to leave, she found the door had been locked, leaving her “really scared” until she raised her voice and he let her go.
Another woman, referred to as Rebecca, said she was told by a modelling agent that to appear in the Sport newspapers, she would need to have sex with Sullivan, who the agent described as a “very good friend.”
Rebecca said Sullivan told her “don’t worry, I won’t hurt you” before having anal sex with her, and she believes he “preyed on the vulnerable” and abused his power in “casting couch” scenarios.
A woman referred to as Mia said she felt she had no choice but to comply during a meeting at Sullivan’s house, after which he gave her £50 from a safe with no prior discussion of payment. “It shouldn’t have happened,” she said. “He was taking advantage of young people.”
Eight women in total have made disclosures about Sullivan’s conduct to the Metropolitan Police or Essex Police, though Sullivan was never charged as a result of any of those reports.
Essex Police said tackling violence against women and girls was “a key focus” and that it took allegations “very seriously,” while the Met said it also treats such allegations “extremely seriously.”
The Football Association launched a safeguarding investigation into Sullivan in recent years, with a spokesperson saying the FA had a “robust safeguarding programme” and took all allegations “very seriously,” though it was unable to comment on individual cases.
Sullivan has been the largest single shareholder of West Ham since 2010 and previously co-owned Birmingham City for over 15 years, meaning the allegations represent a significant test for England’s newly established football regulator.
In his resignation statement, Sullivan said that “after a lifetime spent building businesses in the adult industry in which I have met thousands of women, it is sadly inevitable that a small number of improper conduct claims are being made against me,” insisting he was “absolutely not the person the media has decided to paint me as.”
