Two sisters who worked as personal assistants for Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi have been cleared of fraud in court in London.
Elisabetta (left) and Francesca Grillo arrive at court. Photo: AFP (file)
Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo had denied spending £685,00 on credit cards belonging to the TV cook and her ex-husband.
They claimed Ms Lawson authorised them to spend the money as she wanted to hide her drug use.
The BBC reports Ms Lawson admitted taking cocaine and cannabis, but denied being an addict.
The trial at Isleworth Crown Court heard the sisters fraudulently used credit cards loaned to them by the couple, buying designer goods from Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Vivienne Westwood as well as flights to New York and staying in hotels.
Francesca Grillo, 35, was accused of spending £580,000 on herself.
But she and her sister insisted all of their purchases had been authorised.
Elisabetta Grillo, who was taken to hospital on Thursday night after a panic attack, was with her sister Francesca, 41, in another room in the court as the verdicts were read out. She had collapsed again earlier as she arrived at the building.
After hearing the verdicts, Francesca Grillo declared in Italian: "There is a God."
The Grillos, of Bayswater, west London, were each charged with committing fraud by using a company credit card for personal gain between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2012.
The trial lasted three weeks. The jury comprised seven men and five women.
Comment on verdict
Ms Lawson, 53, said she is unsurprised the sisters were cleared of fraud.
She said she had been "maliciously vilified".
"The jury was faced with a ridiculous sideshow of false allegations about drug use which made focus on the actual criminal trial impossible," Ms Lawson said in a statement.
Mr Saatchi, 70, has yet to comment on the verdict.
Scotland Yard said it won't investigate the accusations of drug-taking heard during the trial, although this could change if new evidence comes to light.
