West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan has resigned as the club’s joint chairman and flatly denied allegations of sexual misconduct, as Britain’s Independent Football Regulator moves to assess his fitness to remain involved with the Premier League club.
The regulator confirmed it is “in contact” with West Ham and will use its statutory powers to obtain “urgent information” about Sullivan following claims published by the BBC’s Panorama programme and The Times. It described the allegations as “extremely serious” and said it would examine whether there were grounds for concern over Sullivan’s continued involvement at the club.
The reports accuse the 77-year-old billionaire of abusing his position to target young women for sex over several decades. The women, according to the publications, were in their late teens or early twenties and had been seeking modelling jobs at Sullivan’s Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers.
Sullivan categorically rejected the claims, insisting he had engaged in no illegal conduct. Announcing his resignation, he said he wanted to focus on defending himself against what he described as “factually incorrect and entirely false, decades-old allegations” concerning his personal life, and dismissed the Panorama and The Times investigation as “fundamentally unfair.”
He added: “After a lifetime spent building businesses in the adult industry in which I have met thousands of women, it is sadly inevitable that a small number of improper conduct claims are being made against me.”
West Ham said Sullivan had stepped aside “to avoid disruption to the club while he addresses the matter privately.”
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport also weighed in, with a spokesperson saying the allegations “must be treated with the utmost seriousness and be investigated by the relevant authorities, with victims given the support they need.” The spokesperson said the government was working across industries to build environments where people feel safe to challenge inappropriate behaviour.
Sullivan became West Ham’s largest individual shareholder following the death of his long-time business partner David Gold in January 2023, and had been associated with the club for 16 years before his resignation took effect on Saturday.
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