Who is David Sullivan - football boss, 'king of porn' and alleged sexual predator?

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Who is David Sullivan - football boss, 'king of porn' and alleged sexual predator? 15 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleBilly KenberInvestigations correspondentBBCAdult magazines, films and telephone chat lines helped build Sullivan's fortuneThe former West Ham joint chairman David Sullivan once described himself as a "collector of women, like some people collect stamps". "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," he told a newspaper interviewer in 1989.

"I have a desire to make love to most women. "The billionaire businessman made a fortune from selling sex in the pre-internet world of adult magazines, films, telephone chat lines and newspapers filled with topless glamour models and teenage girls who had just turned 16. Known as the "king of porn" by some in the industry, the 77-year-old is one of the country's richest men, overseeing a media, property and publishing empire from an office in his 14-bedroom Essex mansion.

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Now, an investigation by Panorama and the Times has revealed allegations of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour going back decades. Sullivan denies all the allegations, calling them factually incorrect and entirely false. In a statement issued on Saturday, he also criticised the 's "fundamentally unfair" investigation.

As he faces accusations of abusing his position of power, how did he rise to such wealth and influence? 'Purveyors of filth'Sullivan is best known for his role at West Ham, which he took over with his 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, and has been a regular sight in the directors' box during matches at the London Stadium.

Although he has resigned as joint chairman, he remains the Championship club's largest single shareholder with a 38. 8% stake in the business. Getty ImagesDavid Sullivan pictured at the end of West Ham's victorious Uefa Europa Conference League final in 2023Born in Cardiff in 1949 to a Royal Air Force officer and his wife, Sullivan first found a taste for business selling football programmes.

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After a degree in economics at Queen Mary University, London, he became an advertising executive, selling pet food and hand-rolled tobacco. But in the early 1970s, unhappy on £30-a-week wages, Sullivan and a university friend began selling topless photos of female models, running the business from a warehouse in Forest Gate, east London. The mail-order enterprise quickly took off and the pair expanded into selling pornographic magazines and books on sexual techniques.

Soon they were being branded by the News of the World as "Britain's newest purveyors of filth" - a moniker Sullivan claimed "made my mother cry".

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.