The former operator of the JW Marriott Essex House hotel have agreed to pay $1.5 million to the family of a woman who was murdered there in 2009.
Andree Bejjani, a real estate investor, was stabbed and strangled by housekeeping manager Derrick Praileau in 2009, the New York Daily News reported. Praileau used his key to get into the unit she was staying in, and he was convicted of murder and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Bejjani’s siblings filed a petition in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court earlier this month, asking a judge to sign off on the $1.5 million settlement with Jumeirah Essex House and Clark Investigations and Security Corp., according to the newspaper.
Neither companies did not admit culpability in agreeing to the $1.5 million settlement. Clark Investigations will pay $950,000 and Jumeirah Essex House will pay $550,000.
Last year, Anbang Insurance Group paid Blackstone Group $6.5 billion for the Strategic Hotels & Resorts portfolio, which included the JW Marriott Essex House at 160 Central Park South. Strategic Hotels & Resorts purchased it from Dubai’s royal family in 2012.
Bejjani was reportedly the president of Royal Investments, a real estate investment company based in the United Arab Emirates. [NYDN] — Miriam Hall