Billionaire West Ham co-owner accused of abusing his power and preying on women for sex

Warning: this story includes descriptions of alleged sexual misconduct and explicit language

Multiple women have accused billionaire businessman and West Ham co-owner David Sullivan of abusing his power and preying on them for sex, in some cases when they were teenagers.

The allegations from seven women have been uncovered in a joint investigation by BBC Panorama and the Times and span decades, starting in the 1980s. All come from women who were in their late teens or early twenties and were young models seeking work at Sullivan's Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers.

They accuse Sullivan of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour, including pressuring them for sex during business meetings, where he offered to boost their careers if they slept with him or gave him oral sex.

One of them, Florence (not her real name), said she felt forced to have sex with him even though she did not want to.

Sullivan, 77, said he "categorically" denies the claims, which span the period when he made a fortune from pornography, newspapers and football.

On Saturday, hours after BBC Panorama and the Times confirmed we would be publishing this investigation on Monday, he resigned as joint chair of West Ham. He said he wanted to focus on fighting what he called "factually incorrect and entirely false, decades-old allegations concerning my personal life", describing the investigation as "fundamentally unfair".

We can also reveal that Sullivan has separately admitted paying for sex in the 1990s with a girl who, he says, he believed was 16 or 17 years old. Sullivan was in his 40s at the time. It only became illegal to pay for sex with a 16 or 17 year old in 2003.