Italian designer Giorgio Armani is at the centre of a legal battle in which hotel executive Robert Riley is suing Emaar Hotels for damages
Armani is named in court documents issued by Robert Riley, 58, who is suing his former employer Emaar over a range of luxury Armani hotels he was recruited to develop.
Riley claims Emaar breached his £1 million a year contract and lists a series of grievances leading to what he describes as the last straw.
He complains that a month after he joined the company, a press release was issued describing plans to triple the number of luxury Armani hotels from ten to thirty, with a $3n investment, without consulting him.
And he accuses the chairman His Excellency Mohamed Alabbar of appointing Anthony Saccon, because of his association with Giorgio Armani, despite his strong objections to employing Saccon.
Riley also says that he was prevented from providing the vital link between the hotel company and Armani, because Saccon was appointed in a liaison capacity, according to a High Court writ.
Riley was previously chief executive of Le Meridien Hotels and the Mandarin Oriental hotel group.
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by a court reporter