US ruling on Fifty Shades fraud case

A woman who helped publish the Fifty Shades series but was defrauded out of royalties could be set to receive millions of dollars in damages.

A US judge ordered Australian Amanda Hayward to set aside $10.7m (£6.9m) for Jennifer Pedroza, a Texas resident. The pair were partners in a small online publishing firm that initially issued the blockbuster erotic trilogy.

A jury decided in February that Pedroza had been conned when the rights were sold to Random House. It found that Hayward, who signed the deal on behalf of their firm The Writers Coffee Shop, tricked Pedroza into signing a restructuring contract that cut her out of royalties rights.

The judge said an exact amount of the settlement would be worked out once the two sides had reached agreement.

The Fifty Shades trilogy, by EL James, has sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, and a recent film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey netted more than $570m (£368m) at global box offices.