UK tribunal overturns ban on ex-supermodel Naomi Campbell leading charities
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Britain’s Charity Commission watchdog banned Naomi Campbell in 2024 over “multiple instances of misconduct” at her charity, Fashion for Relief. An Oct 1 tribunal accepted she had been a victim of deception.
PHOTO: REUTERS
- A UK tribunal overturned Naomi Campbell's five-year ban as a charity trustee, ruling she was deceived by her co-trustee Bianka Hellmich.
- The tribunal found Hellmich used forged documents, made unauthorised payments, and hid mismanagement from Campbell.
- Campbell expressed relief and hopes to refocus on her charity work, while the Charity Commission acknowledged being misled by sophisticated deception.
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LONDON - Former supermodel Naomi Campbell won a legal challenge on Oct 1 to overturn a five-year ban on being a charity trustee after a panel accepted she had been the victim of deception.
The Charity Commission watchdog had banned Campbell in 2024 after identifying “multiple instances of misconduct” at her charity, Fashion for Relief.
The tribunal ruled on Oct 1 that there had been mismanagement but Campbell was “not involved” and “did not know” about it.
Instead, Campbell had been the victim of deception perpetrated by her co-trustee, Bianka Hellmich, who was disqualified from being a charity trustee for nine years.
Hellmich had “used forged documents and a false email address” purporting to belong to Campbell, the tribunal ruled.
She had received unauthorised payments and had hidden the misuse of funds and mismanagement of the charity from Campbell.
The 56-year-old model said in a statement afterwards she had been “hurt deeply”.
But she said the ruling meant she could “get back to what matters most to me: being there for the people and communities I’ve always wanted to serve”.
After the ruling, the Charity Commission said its disqualification of Campbell had been made on the “evidence available to us at the time”.
It said the ruling recognised that the commission, Campbell and others had been “subject to sophisticated deception”.
Campbell founded the charity in 2005, aiming to harness the fashion industry to relieve poverty and advance health and education, by making grants to other organisations and giving resources towards global disasters.
It was dissolved and removed from the register of charities in 2024. AFP