Drug allegations levelled at Nigella Lawson in UK fraud case
Nigella Lawson was allegedly ‘off her head on drugs’ and gave 2 assistants free reign to spend thousands belonging to her husband, a UK court hears.
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TV chef Nigella Lawson was allegedly ‘off her head on drugs’ and she gave two assistants free reign to spend £300,000 ($530,000) on a credit card belonging to her husband Charles Saatchi, a UK court has been told.
The TV chef allegedly allowed Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo to spend thousands on luxuries, including designer clothes and first-class plane tickets.
The Italian sisters claim they had a “tacit understanding” with the 53-year-old cook, meaning they could spend what they liked as long as they didn’t “shop” her to Saatchi for using cocaine, cannabis and prescription drugs.
They have worked for the cook since 2001, but were arrested in August after Saatchi, 70, discovered the extent of their spending.
The shocking allegations were today revealed during a pre-trial hearing in west London over the alleged fraud.
A judge had previously said the sisters, described as “kitchen confidantes” in their employer’s 2011 cookbook, could not use Lawson’s alleged drug use in their defence.
But in a dramatic u-turn, it was ruled that Lawson’s “bad character” claims could be used as evidence.
Lawson’s lawyers have described the drug allegations as “totally scurrilous” and untrue.
Lawson’s marriage to Saatchi ended earlier this year after a newspaper published photos of him holding his wife by the throat during an argument at a Mayfair restaurant.
Source: Mirror
4 Responses
It’s probably not the right thing to say, but does anyone else suddenly have an even higher appreciation for Nigella after hearing these allegations?
Might explain why in a couple of shows Nigella was showing how to do quick fry-ups after a night out and before bed (like bacon and tomato hash, fish fingers and cocktail sausages) … alleged munchies perhaps.
@Ms K, Nigella’s business was established before she married Saatchi, so I doubt whether he had any access to the financial records of her business as it was unlikely that he was her company accountant. As it was not his business, it was not his job to keep his finger on the pulse of the day-to-day operations of it.
The allegations may well be true, it is relatively easy to cover up a habitual drug habit when you have the ready funds to be able to do so. Plenty of well-heeled celebrities have done so in the past. It is an allegation at this stage, it has yet to be proved.
I really do not believe she is a drug user. He is trying re-coup his money and if he didn’t have his finger on the pulse and was watching the out goings of cash,bad luck for him. He is trying to sledge her because of his disgraceful action that were photographed. Hope she defends herself.