{"id":724100,"date":"2026-06-09T00:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T00:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724100\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T00:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T00:42:11","slug":"premier-league-2026-west-hams-co-owner-david-sullivan-accused-of-coercing-women-for-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/724100\/","title":{"rendered":"Premier League 2026: West Ham\u2019s co-owner David Sullivan accused of coercing women for sex"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seven women have accused David Sullivan, the West Ham<\/a> co-owner who made a fortune in the porn and media industry, of preying on them for sex, according to an investigation by the BBC and The Times of London.<\/p>\n

The women said Sullivan used his power to try to get them to perform sex acts when they were young models seeking work at his Daily Sport and Sunday Sport newspapers, which featured photos of topless and scantily clad women.<\/p>\n

\"West<\/p>\n

West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan.\u00a0AP Photo\/Kin Cheung<\/p>\n

Sullivan denied the allegations through his lawyer but stepped down as co-chairman of the east London club<\/a> to \u201cavoid disruption,\u201d the team said.<\/p>\n

Sullivan said he became aware of \u201cfactually incorrect and entirely false, decades-old allegations concerning my personal life due to be broadcast and published.\u201d<\/p>\n

One woman told the BBC Panorama program that she met Sullivan at his mansion in 1999 to discuss work and was told she\u2019d be one of his \u201cregular girls\u201d if they had sex. The woman, who was 20 at the time, said she tried to decline but was led to a bedroom and felt she was forced to have sex with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll be in all the magazines. I can give you covers, I can give you centrefolds, and you\u2019ll be one of my Sport girls,\u201d she recalled him saying.<\/p>\n

In a panic, the woman said her boyfriend was outside, but Sullivan insisted, saying: \u201cIt will only take a minute, and he never has to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman then tried to avoid contact by saying she was on her period.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the bit that will haunt me forever,\u201d she said. \u201cHe lifted his pinky in the air – his little finger – and he went, it\u2019s all right, I\u2019ll only put it in a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sullivan reportedly said after the encounter: \u201cCongratulations, you will be one of our new Sport girls and you\u2019re going to get lots of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BBC report states that most of the women wanted to remain anonymous and that two women said they felt they had no choice but to have sex with him to avoid damaging their future modelling careers. \u201cHe was taking advantage of young people,\u201d one said.<\/p>\n

Another former model said when she had tried to leave a meeting with Sullivan after he propositioned her for sex, she found the door was locked, and he only let her go after she began raising her voice.<\/p>\n

Sullivan\u2019s lawyers said the scenario described was implausible.<\/p>\n

The BBC said it discovered that eight women, including one in its investigation, reported Sullivan\u2019s conduct to police. He was never charged.<\/p>\n

Sullivan said in a statement issued by the team that he planned to sue the BBC and other media for libel.<\/p>\n

\"West<\/p>\n

West Ham United chairman David Sullivan, left, and partner Ampika Pickston in May 2026.\u00a0PA<\/p>\n

Sullivan, 77, published porn magazines and films in the late 1970s and 1980s.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 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. I categorically deny these claims,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said none of the claims were related to his ownership of West Ham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sullivan got involved in football when he bought into Birmingham City in 1993. He left in 2009 and a year later bought a stake in West Ham.<\/p>\n

West Ham was relegated from the Premier League<\/a> this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seven women have accused David Sullivan, the West Ham co-owner who made a fortune in the porn and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-724100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}