David Sullivan, the (now former) co-chair of West Ham football club, as well as a pornography and tabloid media tycoon, has become the latest capitalist degenerate to be unmasked for a long history of sex crimes.
A BBC Panorama investigation has revealed allegations from seven women, all of whom were looking for work as glamour models in Sullivan’s Daily Sport and Sunday Sport newspapers in the 1980s and 1990s.
This was back when all the tabloid rags had disgusting, objectifying pornography on ‘page three’ in order to sell more copies – a ‘tradition’ that has thankfully become history.
They claim that in order to secure this work, and sometimes under direct threat or other coercive means, he demanded sexual favours. Those who refused his advances reported that they never received any offers of paid modelling work for Sport.
The “massive power imbalance” described by ‘Florence’ is one that many women will recognise, for it exists everywhere within capitalist society; wherever arrogant, amoral rich men can lord their obscene wealth and power over others, prey upon people made desperate by the system, and act with impunity.
On the one hand, you have female workers in their late teens or early twenties, some of whom mentioned needing money, or previously experiencing abuse in their lives. And on the other, you have a powerful businessman who is telling them they will not get anywhere unless they sleep with him.
Several of the alleged assaults took place in Sullivan’s Essex mansion, with ‘Florence’ recounting how she was struck by the size and opulence of it. With the power and wealth imbalance so starkly on display, and being left alone in a locked room with a man who claims he could make or break your career, the women felt they did not have a choice.
The parallels between this and the sexual abuse perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell (the daughter of another British media tycoon, might we add) are unmistakable.
They also targeted vulnerable women – whom Maxwell spoke of as “trash” – and chauffeured them to Epstein’s luxurious Florida residence, to make them feel small and inferior. This is how the Epstein class, whether in the US or Britain, views ordinary people.
Hidden in plain sight
Sullivan was able to act as a powerful gatekeeper to the industry because he had the resources and connections, and therefore he could set his own rules for admission. This is what capitalism produces: an unrestrained, degenerate class of people who play by their own rules.
Sullivan’s crimes have long been known in his elite circles: he was given the nickname “No job/blow job” in the 1990s, and frequently boasted about his prolific sex life in the media.
The Guardian even once quoted him saying, in reference to his sexual exploits with the models he managed: “I’ve always said what’s the point in owning a sweet shop if you can’t eat any of the sweets.”
Coming straight from the horse’s mouth, he admits that young women and girls are nothing more than commodities to him. They are objects that can be consumed, traded, and sold for profit; that he can use for his own sick pleasure.
Scandalously, it was recently revealed that Sullivan had been banned from contact with West Ham’s women’s and youth teams since 2023, by a dedicated safeguarding body made up of the Football Association, the club, and the local authority, due to allegations of inappropriate conduct.
These findings were then essentially covered up, and weren’t even revealed to the women’s team’s owners. Despite all of this, Sullivan was still allowed to play a high-profile, highly-influential role within the club.
Sullivan is not just ‘one bad apple’, he is the product of an industry and a system that has always put profit over women’s safety. While some modelling agents have said that they warned young models about Sullivan, or stopped sending them to him altogether (but notably did not report him), others directly fed the monster.
‘Rebecca’ was scouted by a female agent on the street who promised her a successful career as a glamour model in London, where she could earn £1,000 a week. But when she arrived, the agent told her she would have to sleep with Sullivan (whom she described as a “very good friend”!) for money in order to appear in the Sport newspapers.
You could say that, for all these years, Sullivan was hidden in plain sight. But that is not even true: he didn’t try to hide anything. His predatory behaviour and abuse was an open secret, that everyone within his elite circles either wilfully overlooked, trivialised, or were themselves complicit in.
‘Missed opportunities’
Despite eight women making disclosures to either the Metropolitan and Essex Police forces regarding Sullivan’s predatory and abusive conduct, he still walks free. He was even arrested in 2008 on suspicion of sexual assault, but no charges were brought, and he became co-chair of West Ham only two years later.
In 2023, Sacha Wall reported her experience with Sullivan to the Essex Police, in case it would help other women. Six months later, they decided to take no further action in her case. Scandalously, the police have continued to defend this decision, despite the mountain of evidence that exists against Sullivan!
They claim there was insufficient evidence in each case to bring about charges, but that there had also been a “missed opportunity” to search Sullivan’s property. The only thing limiting their lack of evidence was their lack of investigation!
None of this should come as a surprise. The police has proven time and again its longstanding inability and unwillingness to take violence against women and girls seriously. And let’s not forget that they have a long history of misogyny and sexist abuse within their own ranks. The police cannot be trusted to keep women and girls safe.
Wipe out the Epstein Class!
From Harvey Weinstein, to Prince Andrew, to Jimmy Savile, to Mohamed Al-Fayed, to Jeffrey Epstein, it feels like a wealthy, high-profile figure is exposed for being a serial sexual predator every few months.
The thing that connects them? They were all powerful players in the capitalist establishment. In each case, these men were permitted by the system to assault hundreds of women and children over the course of decades, without interference or punishment. And hundreds of Epsteins, Saviles, and Sullivans are still out there living free lives, in the boardrooms and corridors of power.
It is very telling that all but one of Sullivan’s accusers wished to stay anonymous, citing fears over Sullivan and future repercussions. We have all seen how the capitalist system tears down women who do speak up. They are harassed by the billionaire friends and hired lawyers of their abuser, and their stories and lives torn apart by the authorities and the media, in the name of ‘seeking the truth’.
We must be frank: no real justice is ever going to come from the police and the criminal justice system. These people have turned a blind eye to ruling-class degeneracy and abuse for decades. They aren’t going to change their tune now.
The worst Sullivan will likely get is a slap on the wrist. Meanwhile, any investigation will drag on for an agonising amount of time, prolonging the trauma for the women he preyed upon.
Under capitalism, the only way to get even a shred of justice for these crimes would be through mass pressure and mobilisation, along the lines of the #MeToo movement, or the protests in response to the murder of Sarah Everard. The only way to get real, lasting justice will be to tear this whole sordid system down.
With every exposé, people will get angrier and angrier. It becomes clearer and clearer that these cases of abuse are not just isolated events, but are part and parcel of a system based upon abuse, exploitation, and inequality; in which the capitalists are rewarded for corruption and degeneracy, while people are punished for speaking out.
Is it any surprise, therefore, that young women are becoming one of the most radicalised layers in British society?
Every file that is released, and every monster that is unmasked, serves as a reminder to women and girls – and the working class as a whole – that the only way forward is to wipe out the Epstein class for good.
Letter: Up the Hammers (and sickles)
West Ham’s recent relegation from the Premier League shouldn’t just enrage long-suffering fans of the Hammers.
After making their billions off the abuse of women in the porn industry, owners David Sullivan and David Gold turned their sights to the crisis-ridden football club as their next cash cow.
In 2013, after years of donations to the Tories, they cut a 99-year deal in 2013 with then Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, that allowed them to rent London Stadium for a bargain price of £4 million annually – with a tidy caveat that this bill would be halved if the club were relegated.
For comparison, that is a meagre five percent of the club’s yearly income. Meanwhile, the average Newham resident (the borough which houses London Stadium) pays 53 percent of their income on rent!
All the while, regular working-class Londoners are footing the bill for renting the stadium – to the tune of £2.5 million every year for the next 86 years!
And the cherry on the cake? The majority of West Ham supporters don’t even like their new ground. When surveyed, many complained about the lack of atmosphere, due to the fact it’s not a purpose-built football stadium, but a converted athletics stadium with seats that are miles away from the field.
Meanwhile, the Hammers’ old stadium, the iconic Boleyn Ground near Upton Park, has been torn down and turned into – you guessed it – expensive flats that few locals would be able to afford.
As the club’s debts continue to rack up, its owners have both been named on the Sunday Times Rich list, with Sullivan and Daniel Křetínský placing 149th and 24th respectively.
This is not the only time Sullivan has used his beloved club to increase his bank balance. In 2018, it was found that he had used his ownership of West Ham to funnel £2 million to his family and avoid a £700,000 tax bill in the process.
While pro-Palestine activists languish in prison without being convicted of anything, Sullivan got away with a slap on the wrist from HMRC, with assurances that he would pay his tax bill.
Far from its roots as a club for the working-class shipbuilders of East London, West Ham, like many clubs, has merely become a means by which the rotten billionaire class enriches themselves at the expense of the rest of us.
We must do away with these degenerate owners and finally put West Ham – and all football and sports clubs – under the ownership and control of fans and ordinary Londoners.
Daisy, Forest Gate
