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LONDON — Supermodel Naomi Campbell won a legal challenge on Thursday to end her five-year ban as a charity trustee in England and Wales.
A three-judge tribunal found that Campbell, 56, had been “misled” by Bianka Hellmich, a co-trustee of the anti-poverty charity Fashion for Relief, which held fundraising events in Cannes and London.
Two years ago, the Charity Commission, which registers and regulates charities in England and Wales, found “numerous cases of misconduct and/or mismanagement” at the charity. This included using charity money to pay for her stay at a five-star hotel in Cannes, as well as spa treatments, room service and cigarettes. As a result, he banned Campbell.
In its decision, the tribunal confirmed that there was “gross misconduct and mismanagement,” but concluded that Hellmich’s conduct had resulted in “failures in the management of the charity’s finances and misuse of its funds.” These, he said, were “hidden” from the supermodel.
The judges found that Hellmich “used forged documents” and also misled professional advisers and the Charity Commission.
The judges also said that although Campbell shared responsibility for the charity’s failure to pay its accounts on time, that did not mean she was not fit to be a charity trustee.
During the four-day hearing in June, Campbell said her “only mistake” was trusting Hellmich, who she said forged her signature and lied about her credentials as a charity lawyer.
“I don’t look at it as a failure, I look at it as if I trusted someone I knew, someone who was a lawyer,” said Campbell, telling London’s central court that she and the Charity Commission had been misled.
The commission had opposed Campbell’s challenge and said that the five-year ban should be upheld.
An inquiry into Fashion for Relief was opened by the commission in 2021, with the charity being dissolved and struck off the charity register in 2024.
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This story has been amended to correct the Charity Commission’s ruling from last year to 2024.
