Maryland-based Marriott is the world's biggest hotel firm
According to a lawsuit, unsealed on Thursday in US District Court in Delaware, Hong Kong-based CTF Hotel Holdings has accused Marriott, its Renaissance Hotel unit and hotel-supply firm Avendra of bribery and racketeering, among other things.
CTF is seeking monetary compensation and punitive damages against Marriott as well as a jury trial.
Maryland-based Marriott, the world's largest lodging firm, has denied the allegations.
CTF filed the lawsuit in April but it has been kept under seal, upon Marriott's request, for fear the complaint would reveal proprietary information.
'Acted adversely'
The lawsuit was made public following petitions by Bloomberg and Dow Jones news agencies to make the documents available.
Among other allegations, CTF claims in its suit that Marriott was "secretly soliciting, diverting and fraudulently concealing kickbacks from Molloy Corp," an outside contractor used by Marriott, the Wall Street Journal reported in its Friday editions.
CTF claims Marriott and others made more than $1.7 million by tripling the amounts of invoices for audiovisual services provided by Molloy.
1 "In their insatiable quest to maximize Marriott's own profits," the hotel firm and its units "have persistently acted adversely to CTF," the suit read.
CTF is a unit of New World Development, which builds hotels and restaurants. Marriott manages hotel chains for owners such as CTF, which shares profits and fees.
Shares of Marriott, which owns or franchises hotels in 64 countries, were lower by about 1.5% in Friday afternoon New York trading following the news.