More than 400 people have come forward following Mohamed Al Fayed’s allegations of sexual harassment

Al Fayed, who died last year at the age of 94, was accused in September by more than 20 women of sexual assault in a BBC documentary and podcast.

Since then, an increasing number of women have come forward with allegations of assault, harassment and rape that occurred over the more than three decades they were his employees.

Harrods previously told the BBC it was in the process of settling more than 250 compensation claims brought by Al Fayed’s victims. The luxury department store has a compensation program for former employees who say they were attacked by Al Fayed, which is separate from the ongoing lawsuit against him.

On Thursday, the group Justice for Harrods Survivors, which represents some of the former Harrods boss’s accusers, said it had been sent its first lawsuit to the department store, calling it “the beginning of the formal legal process.”

The group said most of the 421 claims were linked to Harrods, but others related to incidents at Fulham FC and the Ritz Paris hotel, which Al Fayed also owned at the time of the alleged attacks.

Lawyers said the survivors come from Britain, America, Canada, Europe, Australia and Asia.