Following the David Sullivan documentary, the Independent Football Regulator said it has made contact with officials over “extremely serious allegations” and is seeking “urgent information”
West Ham co-owner David Sullivan could be forced out of football if an investigation finds against him after the new regulator launched a preliminary probe into claims he preyed on women for sex.
Sullivan has denied all allegations. 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 Mr 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.
On Monday, the BBC and The Times reported the accounts of seven women who claimed he engaged in sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour. Downing Street called the allegations “harrowing” and said it was right for the police to assess the claims.
An IFR spokesperson said: “These are extremely serious allegations. We are in contact with West Ham on this matter and will use our statutory powers to seek urgent information from David Sullivan relating to his suitability under our owners, directors and senior executives regime. We are unable to comment further at this stage.”
The claims span decades when Mr Sullivan made a fortune from pornography, newspapers and football. They come from women who were in their late teens or early twenties and were young models seeking work at his Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers.
The IFR is expected to use its statutory powers to determine whether there are grounds for concern regarding Sullivan’s role in the club.
If the regulator does come into possession of such material, it may open an investigation into the West Ham co-owner’s suitability.
It comes 45 years after allegations about his abuse of power were first made public when a journalist went undercover after a complaint from a woman.
News of the World reporter Tina Dalgleish went undercover and 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 Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday that they were investigating a report relating to the “alleged taking of indecent images and sexual exploitation at locations in London and Essex in the 1980s”. It relates to one alleged victim and is being led by specialist detectives from the Met’s rape and serious sexual offences team.
Essex Police investigated an allegation of a non-recent sexual offence after a report was handed over from the Met in 2023.
As part of that investigation, other claims of non-recent sexual offences made in 2008 and 2021 were also reviewed, and early investigative advice taken from the Crown Prosecution Service. The force then decided that no further action would be taken.
A spokesman said that it takes “allegations of this nature very seriously” and urged any alleged victim of sexual assault to report it to Essex Police.
The accounts from the women published on Monday date back to the 1980s and 1990s, when Mr Sullivan owned tabloid newspapers the Daily Sport and the Sunday Sport.
At the weekend, Mr Sullivan said he “categorically denies” all of the claims. His lawyers said he would make no further public comment when contacted after Monday’s reports were published. He made his millions from the pornography industry throughout the 1970s.
Mr Sullivan and business partner David Gold completed their takeover of West Ham in 2010 after selling Birmingham City, and brought Karren Brady with them as vice-chairman.
Sullivan remains the largest shareholder at the London Stadium with a 38.8 per cent stake.
The new Independent Football Regulator (IFR) has the power to force unsuitable owners to sell a club.
The Mirror has approached Mr Sullivan’s legal team.
