The two aides that have been accused of defrauding are cleared of charges

Dec 20, 2013 13:25 GMT  ·  By

In the past 3 weeks, British chef and TV celebrity Nigella Lawson has been involved in a bitter trial over a large sum of money that was reportedly defrauded by two of her aides. Today, the jury ruled that the two women charged of spending in excess of 685,000 pounds ($1.12 million) on company credits cards buying items for personal use are not guilty.

Italian sisters Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo maintained throughout the trial that the spending was authorized by Nigella Lawson. The credit cards belonged to Nigella's former husband Charles Saatchi, who was the one who filed the lawsuit.

During the trial, sensational news came to light as Nigella admitted to snorting cocaine and smoking cannabis in front of her children. Reportedly, she allowed the spending from the company credit cards in return for keeping silence on her drug habits.

The facts that came to light during the trial severely damaged Nigella's squeaky clean image and, eventually, led the jury to take into consideration that the sisters were, indeed, spending the money based on an agreement with the TV chef.

The trial has also brought to light new evidence in the case of the Saatchi-Lawson divorce, which took place in July of this year. At the time, pictures leaked in the press showing Saatchi throttling Lawson outside a restaurant in London. Now, it turns out Saatchi, who claims he still loves his ex-wife dearly, was actually checking to see if Nigella had snorted drugs.

“I don't have a drug problem, I have a life problem,” the “Domestic Goddess” said while on the stand, maintaining that she was never a drug addict, just a habitual user. This came into stark contrast with the descriptions provided by the aides, which talked of daily drug usage that included cocaine, cannabis and prescription pills.

The two sisters admitted spending large sums of money on shopping sprees for designer clothes, jewelry and perfumes, as well as for rooms in fancy hotels in Paris and New York, but promised to pay back the damages.