Oct. 7, 2009 (United Press International) -- A federal grand jury in New York is deciding whether to return a criminal indictment against Hilton Worldwide and several of its former executives, sources say.

The grand jury is part of a U.S. Justice Department investigation into allegations that Hilton used trade secrets taken by former executives of Starwood Hotels (NYSE:HOT) & Resorts before they defected to Hilton last year, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The former executives are suspected of removing confidential documents dealing with Starwood's successful W chain.

Hilton, owned by the private-equity firm Blackstone Group, is accused of using those documents to develop its own luxury brand to compete with W.

A spokesman for Hilton declined to comment on specifics of the investigation but told the Journal Hilton is cooperating fully with the U.S. attorney's office.

Among the subjects of the probe are Hilton's head of global development Steven Goldman, and former Starwood executives Ross Klein and Amar Lalvani.