A MILLIONAIRE'S wife has been found guilty of two counts of money laundering.

A jury yesterday returned the first verdicts in the trial of a so-called Ponzi investment scheme which swindled millions of pounds from investors including ex-pats living in Mallorca.

Linda Hirst, 62, is the estranged wife of John Hirst, 61, of Millroyd Mill, Huddersfield Road, Brighouse, who has accepted his own involvement in the scheme. But his wife, who lives in Surrey, had denied seven charges, including six of money laundering.

Yesterday the jury at Bradford Crown Court found her unanimously guilty of two money laundering charges against her – one worth £170,194.00 and another for £17,300.

She was also found guilty of evasion of liability by deception.

The jury have still to return verdicts on four more charges against her, plus one money laundering charge against her daughter Zoe Waite, 36, of Surrey, and three money laundering charges against Hirst's son Daniel, 35, of Marsh Lane, Leeds.

Former accountant and financial advisor Richard Pollett, 70, from Dorset, is also on trial with the trio but he denied being part of a conspiracy to defraud investors.

Judge Jonathan Durham-Hall, at Bradford Crown Court, heard that Linda Hirst had no idea her estranged husband had served time for fraud. She told the court she found out about his crimes only when new allegations were made about a massive scam.

But John Hirst had been jailed in the 1990s for a scam involving former miners.

While together, the couple enjoyed expensive stays at a luxury hotel in Dubai, first class air travel and spent more than £90,000 on their Las Vegas wedding.

Details of Hirst’s financial affairs and bank records relating to various companies including his investment firm Gilher Inc were outlined to the jury during the trial.

They revealed that investors, who had been promised returns of 18% per annum with a 2% bonus, had put around £10m into Gilher, but had got back less then £5m.

Payments made from Gilher to Hirst’s personal accounts and companies associated with him totalled over £2m.

The Serious Fraud Office revealed that at least £270,000 was spent renovating the Hirsts’ £1.5m villa in Mallorca and their Las Vegas wedding cost more than £90,000.

The couple stayed at the exclusive Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai on the way to the Seychelles for their honeymoon and also held a party an at exclusive Mallorca hotel for friends..

Hotels, holidays and flights were said to have cost just short of £160,000 with more than £25,000 spent on jewellery.

The jury heard that the couple also enjoyed taking cruises and spent more than £75,000 on a series of trips.

John Hirst paid cash for a luxury home for his former wife and her daughter in 2008, which his own son, Daniel, is alleged to have been involved in the conveyancing for the Surrey property while he was working for Ramsdens Solicitors in Halifax.

The judge directed the jury to consider majority verdicts for the other charges and the case will resume today.