The founder of a world-famous hot yoga method has been ordered to pay more than £650,000 to a lawyer who said she was sacked for investigating sexual harassment claims against the guru.

A Los Angeles jury ordered Bikram Choudhury to pay Minakshi Jafa-Bodden 924,500 dollars in compensatory damages after finding he had subjected her to harassment and retaliation.

The jury is now considering whether to award Ms Jafa-Bodden punitive damages.

Choudhury's lawyer Robert Tafoya did not return a call for comment.

Choudhury, 69, has built an empire around Bikram yoga, a rigorous routine performed in a hot room.

In October, he lost a court appeal to copyright his sequence of 26 poses and is facing lawsuits by six women who claim he sexually assaulted them.