The former West Ham joint chairman David Sullivan once described himself as a “collector of women, like some people collect stamps.” In a 1989 newspaper interview, he boasted: “I can have up to three a day but some days I don’t have any – it depends how I feel and what else is happening. I have a desire to make love to most women.” Now, at 77, the billionaire businessman who made his fortune from adult magazines, films and telephone chat lines is facing allegations of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour going back decades, uncovered by an investigation by BBC Panorama and the Times. Sullivan denies all the allegations, calling them “factually incorrect and entirely false”, and criticised the BBC’s “fundamentally unfair” investigation.
Sullivan, known as the “king of porn” by some in the industry, oversees a media, property and publishing empire from an office in his 14-bedroom Essex mansion. He is one of Britain’s richest men. But his path to wealth began modestly. Born in Cardiff in 1949 to a Royal Air Force officer and his wife, he first tasted business selling football programmes. After a degree in economics at Queen Mary University, London, he became an advertising executive, selling pet food and hand-rolled tobacco.
“Billionaire ex-West Ham boss David Sullivan denies decades of sexual exploitation allegations after BBC Panorama investigation.”
Unhappy on £30-a-week wages in the early 1970s, Sullivan and a university friend began selling topless photos of female models from a warehouse in Forest Gate, east London. The mail-order enterprise quickly expanded into pornographic magazines and books on sexual techniques. The News of the World branded them “Britain’s newest purveyors of filth” – a moniker Sullivan said “made my mother cry”. In 1973, aged in their early twenties, Sullivan and his partner were charged with conspiring to publish and post obscene materials. They pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey and were each fined £50.
Sullivan is best known for his role at West Ham, which he took over with business partners in 2010. He was on the pitch when the team lifted the Uefa Conference League trophy in Prague in 2023, wearing a claret blazer and club tie. Although he has resigned as joint chairman, he remains the Championship club’s largest single shareholder with a 38.8% stake. The allegations now threaten to overshadow a legacy built on sex and sport.