- Matthew Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, was had stumped up thousands to appear as a co-host for the Hollywood fundraiser
- He was accused of a 2009 sexual assault in a lawsuit filed on Thanksgiving Eve and is set to appear in court on December 15 in New York
- His cousin J.B. Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, is helping to run Joe Biden’s re-election bid.
Matthew Pritzker, the Hyatt scion accused of sexual assault, has been dropped from a glitzy fundraising shindig for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.
The 41-year-old billionaire was one of dozens of wealthy Biden supporters who paid $100,000 to be named as a co-host of the event at a secret location in Los Angeles on Friday.
But his name now has been quietly dropped from the lineup after a woman filed a lawsuit on Thanksgiving Eve alleging that he raped her in New York in May 2009.
The fundraiser for the commander-in-chief’s re-election bid, dubbed An Evening With President Joe Biden and Jill Biden, will also feature a performance by Lenny Kravitz and an appearance by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pritzker’s details have been scrubbed from the official event page, where uber-rich Hollywood Biden backers can stump up $25,000 to attend the dinner and get a picture with the president.
DailyMail.com has contacted Matthew Pritzker and the organizers of the event for comment.
The news was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
His cousin, J.B. Pritzker, the Democrat governor of Illinois, is co-chair of Biden’s 2024 campaign.
The most expensive tickets are selling for an eyewatering $500,000, but only the cheapest seats at $1,000 a pop have sold out.
The Hyatt heir will instead be prepping for a court appearance in New York next week.
Matthew Pritzker has been dropped from the lineup of the Biden fundraiser after being accused of sexual assault by a woman who is suing the 41-year-old for $25 million
The glitzy bash is being held at a secret Hollywood location on Friday where major Democratic donors will part with thousands of dollars to join the President and the First Lady for a night of entertainment
Lenny Kravitz is scheduled to perform at the Biden fundraiser on Friday night in Los Angeles
Pritzker’s uncles founded the global Hyatt hotel chain. Pictured: The first Hyatt Regency property in Atlanta
Official documents obtained by DailyMail.com, show that the billionaire is to appear before judges on December 15.
The woman, named only as Jane Doe in the last filing, is seeking $25 million in damages.
It said the alleged ‘sexual offenses’ took place ‘in or about May 31, 2009’ in the Big Apple’s Upper Manhattan district.
The case could a potential embarrassment for the Biden campaign as the defendant’s cousin JB Pritzker, the Democrat governor of Illinois, is helping his 2024 re-election bid.
Matthew Pritzker’s father Robert was sued by Matthew and his sister Liesel for allegedly looting $1 billion from their trust funds
The lawsuit was filed on the eve of Thanksgiving under the New York Survivors Act, signed into law in May last year by Governor Kathy Hochul, and similar laws have been passed in Illinois under JB Pritzker’s tenure.
The accuser, named only as Jane Doe in her filing, said Pritzker ‘engaged in sexual acts without her consent…while she was incapacitated and could not provide consent.’
More than 2,500 lawsuits have been brought forward under the legislation, according to the Associated Press.
It has been used to sue New York mayor Eric Adams, as well as celebrities such as rap music mogul Sean Combs, actor Jamie Foxx and ex-president Donald Trump.
And Pritzker’s Democrat governor cousin has signed two recent bills into law to strengthen the protections offered to survivors of rape or sexual assault.
The Chicago-based entrepreneur has largely shunned the limelight since suing his businessman billionaire father Robert – whose brothers Donald and Jay founded the Hyatt chain – in 2005.
He and his sister Liesel, a former child actress who appeared in the 1997 Harrison Ford blockbuster Air Force One, accused their father of looting $1 billion from their trust funds when he divorced their mother Irene in the 1990s.
The case was settled out of court but reports at the time suggested he came out with around $500 million.
The two Pritzker siblings eventually agreed to drop the case in return for a settlement worth $900 million.
JB Pritzker, Matthew’s cousin, is a senior Biden surrogate who is advising the president on his bid to win a second term in the White House
The accuser alleges investor and philanthropist Pritzker – seen here at basketball legend Scotty Pippen’s birthday party – ‘engaged in sexual acts without her consent…while she was incapacitated and could not provide consent’
Matthew also had a brief brush with the law in 2009 when a Chicago cyclist accused him of deliberately knocking him off his bike while he was driving his SUV, but the case was dismissed.
His investment portfolio largely focuses on real estate, but he was also a major backer in the now-defunct Chicago-based food firm Homemade Pizza Co that was wound up in 2014.
He has also been a prolific political donor, stumping more than $2 million to Democratic candidates including just over $25,000 to the 2020 Biden campaign.
The extended Pritzker family is one of the wealthiest in the United States, with a combined net worth of $ 36.9 billion. Eleven members of the family are billionaires.
Matthew’s cousins, Tony, 62, Penny, 64 and J.B. Pritzker, 58, have an estimated combined net worth of $10 billion as the main heirs of the global Hyatt hotel chain.
J.B. Pritzker was elected as the Democrat governor of Illinois in 2019, while Penny Pritzker was Secretary of Commerce under President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017.
The court documents obtained by DailyMail.com state that the alleged ‘sexual offences’ took place ‘in or about May 31, 2009’ in the Big Apple’s Upper Manhattan district
The alleged victim seeks at least $25million in compensatory and punitive damages, together with attorneys’ fees, costs and interest
Another cousin Tom Pritzker, the son of co-founder Jay Pritzker, currently serves as the Executive Chairman of the Hyatt Hotels and Resorts Corporation.
In 2019 Tom, 72, was named in documents as one of several prominent men who Virginia Roberts was ordered to have sex with by late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Tom tried unsuccessfully to prevent the publishing of court documents and has denied the allegations.
Earlier this year Tony and Jeanne’s son Nick Pritzker, 29, a marijuana entrepreneur, pai $12.5million for a circular home that has been featured in films including Lethal Weapon 2 and Fast and the Furious.
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The descendants of the Pritzker empire all stem from Abram Nicholas Pritzker, who died in 1986 who was an attorney and real estate investor. Abram, who died in 1986, was father to Jay Pritzker, Robert, and Donald Pritzker.
Jay and Donald Pritzker co-founded the Hyatt Hotels Corporation, which went on to become one of the largest hotel and resort chains in the world.
The Hyatt Hotel chain includes hotels operating under the Hyatt brand such as the Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency and Hyatt Place.
They also run high-end brands such as Miraval, Andaz, Thompson Hotels, and Dream Hotels.
source: dailymail.co.uk/Matthew-Pritzker-cousin-Illinois-governor-booted-Biden-fundraiser-sex-trial
