West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan has been banned from having contact with the club's women's and youth teams for the past three years, the BBC has learned, after the Football Association opened a safeguarding investigation into his conduct.
The FA launched the inquiry in 2023 following allegations about Sullivan, then co-chair of the Premier League club. In response, a safeguarding group comprising the club, the FA and the local authority decided to prevent Sullivan from accessing his own club's youth and women's teams, as well as attending their matches. The ban remains in place to the present day.
“West Ham co-owner David Sullivan banned from women's and youth teams since 2023 after FA safeguarding investigation.”
The restrictions were never made public. Sullivan continued to appear as a prominent figure at West Ham, regularly taking his seat in the director's box for men's team games at the London Stadium. He remains the club's largest shareholder, though he resigned as co-chair and a director on Saturday – a move that came ahead of a joint investigation by the BBC and the Times.
That investigation revealed multiple women accusing the billionaire businessman of abusing his power and preying on them for sex. The allegations span decades when Sullivan made a fortune from pornography, newspapers and football. All come from women who were in their late teens or early twenties, young models seeking work at Sullivan's Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers.
Sullivan has not responded to a request for comment, but has previously denied allegations of wrongdoing. In a statement, 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”.
The BBC and Times investigation also revealed that eight women, including one who was part of the investigation, have gone to the police with disclosures about Sullivan's conduct. None of those cases have resulted in charges. The Metropolitan Police said it takes such allegations “extremely seriously” and “any information or evidence provided to police will be assessed and the appropriate enquiries carried out”.
The Independent Football Regulator said it contacted West Ham over “extremely serious allegations” raised about Sullivan and said it was seeking “urgent information” from him about his suitability for the role. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's spokesperson called the women's accounts “harrowing”, while Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy described the revelations as “utterly horrifying”.
West Ham and the Football Association both said they have robust safeguarding measures but cannot comment on individual cases.