Hilton has suspended development of Denizen Hotels, its new lifestyle brand, following receipt of a federal grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
The attorney's office requested documents relating to Hilton's employment of former employees of Starwood Hotels & Resorts and materials that Hilton returned to Starwood in February 2009.
Starwood last week filed a lawsuit accusing Hilton and two former Starwood executives, Ross Klein and Amar Lalvani, of corporate espionage in the development of Hilton’s new lifestyle brand. Starwood claims that the two men unlawfully obtained and used Starwood information to launch Denizen.
Hilton said it has placed Klein, Lalvani and their team on paid administrative leave "pending Hilton's review of the situation."