Naomi Campbell Wins Appeal Against Charity Trustee Ban

Supermodel Naomi Campbell has successfully appealed a five-year ban from serving as a charity trustee, following a tribunal's decision that she was unaware of misconduct and misused funds at her charity, Fashion for Relief. The ban was initially imposed in 2024 after an investigation found that charity funds had been spent on luxury expenses.

A three-person tribunal determined that the most serious instances of misconduct were concealed from Campbell by a fellow trustee, lawyer Bianka Hellmich. "Ms Campbell was not involved in, and did not know of, that conduct," the panel stated.

Campbell founded Fashion for Relief in 2005 to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina and subsequently supported global disaster relief efforts. The charity was dissolved in 2023, and Campbell, along with two other trustees, faced a ban after a Charity Commission inquiry cited "serious mismanagement and/or misconduct."

In her appeal, Campbell alleged that Hellmich forged her signature and used a fake email address to divert charitable funds. Campbell asserted that her "only mistake" was trusting Hellmich, a claim Hellmich has denied. The Charity Commission had opposed Campbell's appeal, seeking to uphold the ban.

The tribunal's ruling found that documentary evidence supported Campbell's claim of deception. "For the avoidance of doubt, we accept that both Ms Campbell's evidence, as well as her conduct during the operation of the Charity, was entirely honest," the panel said.

The tribunal accepted that Campbell was unaware that approximately £3,750 in hotel charges from a 2018 trip to the south of France, which included expenses for dinner, spa treatments, and cigarettes, were paid for by the charity. "The panel is satisfied that Ms Campbell was not responsible for the inappropriate use of the charity's resources or any unjustified expenditure, nor did she contribute or facilitate it," the ruling stated.

While acknowledging Campbell bore some responsibility for failures in maintaining minutes and filing accounts on time, the tribunal concluded these were insufficient grounds to disqualify her as a trustee. The ruling noted that "unauthorised payments of more than £290,000 were made to Hellmich for apparent consultancy fees."

According to the tribunal, Hellmich deceived Campbell, used forged documents and a false email address, and misled professional advisers and the Charity Commission. "Ms Campbell was not involved in, and did not know of, that conduct," the panel found, adding that Campbell had no reasonable basis to suspect Hellmich's dishonesty until regulatory concerns surfaced, at which point she took reasonable steps.

Hellmich's solicitors reportedly denied the allegations in a letter to the tribunal, but Hellmich did not provide evidence or participate in the proceedings.