Police have confirmed they are now engaging with fresh information regarding West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan following a joint investigation by the BBC Panorama and The Times into the club executive.
Essex Police said there had been “some contact and enquiries into those are now under way” after the findings were published on Monday.
The investigation alleged that several women have accused Sullivan of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour spanning back to the 1980s.
Sullivan has strongly denied all allegations made against him.
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has also stepped in, holding urgent “fact-finding” discussions with both the Football Association and West Ham United after reports that Sullivan had been banned from contacting women’s and youth team players over safeguarding concerns.
According to the BBC, Sullivan has been subject to these restrictions for three years following a historic allegation raised with the FA in 2023.
The arrangement had not been made public, and he continued to attend men’s first-team matches during this period.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Sullivan insisted he had never met any academy or women’s team players “1-2-1” during his 16 years at West Ham.
He added that the complaint “had nothing to do about my time in football and it never happened”.
“I saw it as a meaningless restriction, as it didn’t impact on my work in any way, therefore I accepted it for a quiet life,” he said.
Sullivan further argued that it was wrong to describe the arrangement as a disciplinary “ban”.
Reacting to the developments, Nandy demanded a “full and urgent explanation” into how such “incredibly serious allegations” were handled.
She met with representatives of West Ham and the FA on Wednesday to press for clarity on the response to safeguarding concerns.
West Ham, meanwhile, is understood to have expressed confidence in its “robust safeguarding measures”.
Separately, sponsor Boyle Sports, one of the club’s major partners, said it had not been informed about the restrictions placed on Sullivan.
The company described itself as “extremely concerned at the serious nature of the allegations levelled against David Sullivan”.
“It is our understanding that the Independent Football Regulator is reviewing this matter urgently and we wholeheartedly support their efforts in doing so,” the statement added.
The BBC and The Times investigation also revealed that eight women, including one directly involved in the report, have reported allegations concerning Sullivan’s conduct to police. However, none of the cases have led to criminal charges.
Sullivan, 77, who served as West Ham’s joint chairman for 16 years, became the club’s largest individual shareholder following the death of his business partner David Gold in January 2023.
He stepped down as joint chairman on Saturday, stating that he wished to concentrate on addressing what he described as “factually incorrect and entirely false, decades-old allegations concerning my personal life”.
In his resignation statement, he said that “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 United and the FA have both previously maintained that they operate robust safeguarding procedures and have declined to comment on individual matters.
