Inside the Struggles of the Marriott Family

A son's lawsuit is airing some unprecedented dirty laundry.

The Internal Struggles of the Marriott Family
Marriott Hotel. (Wikipedia)

An heir to the Marriott hotel fortune claims his dad forced him out of the business and then cut him out of the family’s nearly $3 billion trust. John Marriott III says that his dad Bill Marriott — who John also alleges forced him out as CEO of a separate, privately run hotel business called JWM Family Enterprises — is doing all of this because John got a divorce. As a result, John is suing both his father and his uncle, Richard Marriott, who share control of the trust established by their parents, alleging breach of fiduciary duty. In John’s telling of the story, the Marriotts come off as fractious and unforgiving, controlled by a patriarch who is willing to cast out his own family if they displease him. This goes against the carefully cultivated image of one of Washington’s most powerful families. The family and their representatives reject John Marriott’s claims and instead say they’ve worked hard over the years to help him through drug and alcohol addiction.

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