THE Pritzker family empire, owner of Hyatt hotels and one of America’s wealthiest and most secretive dynasties, is to have its doors flung open to public scrutiny after a court ruled that a lawsuit brought by one of its actress daughters is to be allowed to go ahead.

Liesel Pritzker, 20, and her brother Matthew, 22, are suing their father Robert and various family funds for about $1 billion (£556 million) they claim was removed from their trusts when they were children.

Liesel and Matthew’s strategy for the forthcoming case is clear. In order to get back the assets they claim were stolen — including a 10 per cent stake in Hyatt and a large share in Marmon, the family conglomerate said to be worth about $6 billion — they will force the family to disclose full valuations of the assets in question.

That means a team of forensic accountants and lawyers could be given permission by the court to pore over the entire family empire, laying bare valuations of businesses that have for generations remained undisclosed.

The siblings also seek to expose a secret family agreement that was struck in 2001 that essentially describes how the family fortune should be divided up between 11 of the most powerful Pritzkers.

Liesel and Matthew first brought the lawsuits against their father in 2001 when they accused him of plundering their family trusts of about $1 billion when they were aged just 10 and 12 respectively.

Robert Pritzker was at the time in the thick of a divorce with their mother Irene, attempting to bar his young children from using the influential family name.

Liesel and Matthew contend that none of the other members of the family, which is one of the richest in America with an amassed fortune of about $15 billion, had assets taken from their funds.

“It is extraordinary that, right in the middle of these family disputes he emptied their trust funds,” said Lazar Raynal, a lawyer acting for the Pritzker children.

Liesel angered her father when at the age of 12 she ran away to Hollywood to become an actress, taking a role as the Little Princess in the film of the same name, and later as the president’s daughter in Airforce One.

This week a judge in the Pritzker's home town of Chicago ruled that the lawsuits should go to trial, which is expected to begin next September. Analysts have given warning that the legal quagmire engulfing the Pritzkers could bring about a break-up of the Hyatt hotel empire.

This dynasty is even better than Dallas

Take one of America’s wealthiest families, throw in an internecine struggle with a multibillion-dollar lawsuit, add Hollywood glamour, and you have a a saga to rival Dallas, being played out among the owners of the Hyatt hotel chain.

Liesel Pritzker, who ran away to become a Hollywood starlet at the age of 11, is suing her father, Robert, with the help of her brother, Matthew, for $1 billion.

Robert, the head of the family controlling the Hyatt hotels chain and a $6 billion conglomerate called Marmon Holdings, is accused of taking the cash from her trust fund when she was just ten years old, while he was divorcing her mother Irene, his second wife.

When it all gets too much for Liesel she can seek counselling from her step-sister Linda, a Buddhist therapist.

Enthralling episodes are set to play out over the next year before the case comes to trial.

Be sure to tune in.