EXCLUSIVE: West Ham co-owner Sullivan donated the cash years after his conviction, which followed an undercover newspaper sting alleging he told a reporter she would have to have sex with him if she wanted a job
The Conservative Party accepted £112,500 in donations from West Ham co-owner David Sullivan after he was jailed for profiting from prostitution.
Seven women have accused the billionaire of abusing his power and preying on them, in some cases when they were in their late teens.
The Independent Football Regulator said it has contacted West Ham over “extremely serious allegations” and is seeking “urgent information” from Sullivan about his suitability for the role. The 77-year-old, who quit as the club’s joint-chairman and director at the weekend to fight what he calls false claims, strongly denies any wrongdoing. He remains its largest shareholder.
Sullivan has donated £112,500 to the Conservative Party since 2014 through one of his companies Conegate Limited. The last payment was made four years ago.
West Ham United used club money to make a £9,000 donation to the Conservative party in 2022, less than a month before Liz Truss was forced to resign as prime minister.
Electoral Commission records show The Hammers also made a donation of £12,500 in 2016. Sullivan attended a 2015 Conservative Black and White Ball for party donors where revellers bid for a string of luxury auction prizes.
He arrived in a bright red Rolls-Royce, while his football club partner David Gold followed in a silver Rolls with daughter Jacqueline.
Allegations about Sullivan’s abuse of power were first made public when a journalist went undercover following a complaint from a woman in 1981.
News of the World reporter Tina Dalgleish responded to an advert for “promotional entertainment work”. She wrote that Sullivan told her she would have to have sex as part of the job and that he needed to “judge her performance”. He asked her to come upstairs and strip to her underwear, she wrote in the 1981 article, adding that she had done so, but had then got dressed and left.
In 1982 he was convicted of profiting from massage parlours in London where men were paying for sex. Sullivan spent 71 days behind bars after his nine-month sentence was reduced on appeal.
The year before he gave evidence at the Old Bailey against a Met Police sergeant saying he paid the officer £5,000 to help him get off the charges, it was reported.
Sullivan employed a private detective to investigate the cop and three other men who also claimed to be policemen.
The case was then referred to the Met’s anti-corruption department and the sergean was charged with attempting to defraud Sullivan of £45,000. It is not clear if the officer and three alleged co-conspirators were convicted.
The Football Association opened an investigation in 2023 after receiving allegations about the conduct of Sullivan.
A safeguarding group made up of the club, the FA and the local authority decided to prevent him from having access to his own club’s youth and women’s teams, the BBC reported.
In a new statement, Sullivan said he had negotiated a temporary agreement with the FA not to meet academy or women’s team players unaccompanied until a historical anonymous complaint was resolved.
The Mirror has approached the Conservative Party for comment.