Billionaire arms dealer ‘fired ex for spurning his sexual advances’

A billionaire arms dealer hired his ex-girlfriend and then sacked her when she refused to become his ‘sex slave’, an employment tribunal has heard.

The British woman alleged that when she told Edward Banayoti, 55, she was ‘jumping up and down’ with excitement about the new role, he replied ‘that the only way he wanted me to jump up and down was on top of him’.

The Canadian businessman is the founder of Defence Unlimited International and a former brother-in-law of King Abdullah II of Jordan thanks to a short-lived marriage to his sister Princess Aisha bint Hussein.

He allegedly approached the woman with whom he had a brief relationship two years earlier and offered her the role of senior executive assistant based in Washington DC.

But she claims he then sent her messages saying he was still attracted to her, asked if he could ‘sneak into your room’ and made quips about making her pregnant.

She is now in line for a large payout after the Central London Employment Tribunal this week accepted that her statement was true and backed her claims of breach of contract, sexual harassment and victimisation against Mr Banayoti and his business. 

Mr Banayoti plans to appeal, saying her allegations are ‘completely false’ and that he only offered her the job as a favour because she needed money.

He met the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, soon after his 2016 divorce from Princess Aisha. Two years after their relationship ended she got an email from him ‘out of the blue’, she told the hearing. 

Canadian businessman Banayoti is the founder of Defence Unlimited International and a former brother-in-law of King Abdullah II of Jordan (pictured) thanks to a short-lived marriage to his sister Princess Aisha bint Hussein

She claimed that it was agreed she should go to the firm’s office in Malta instead of the US due to the wait for a visa.

Soon afterwards Mr Banayoti began to make suggestive remarks, the tribunal heard.

‘I was very much taken aback… [and] told him I wanted to work in a professional footing,’ she said.

‘I told him I was not interested in these sexual advances.’

Four days later, the woman’s contract was allegedly terminated. 

‘I refused to reciprocate Edward’s sexual advances and desire for me to be his sexual object and this was the reason for the termination of my employment,’ she said in a witness statement, adding that Mr Banayoti had intended to set her up as his ‘sex slave’.

Mr Banayoti’s solicitors provided images of him and the claimant kissing, but the tribunal heard they were taken during their brief relationship. 

Employment Judge Andrew Glennie struck out Mr Banayoti’s defence as ‘weak’. The accuser’s solicitor, Shazia Khan, said the tribunal’s decision ‘reinforces the law that no employee should be expected to tolerate any form of sexual harassment in the workplace’.

Mr Banayoti’s initial listing at Companies House in 2016 valued his business at around £1.5billon. 

His firm’s website says it provides guns, military aircraft and electronic systems to various governments.