LONDON (AP) — Supermodel Naomi Campbell won a legal challenge Thursday to overturn a five-year ban on serving as a charity trustee in England and Wales.
A three-judge tribunal found that Campbell, 56, had been “deceived” by Bianka Hellmich, a fellow trustee in the anti-poverty charity Fashion for Relief, which hosted fundraising events in Cannes and London.
Two years ago, the Charity Commission, which registers and regulates charities in England and Wales,
found “multiple instances of misconduct and/or mismanagement" at the charity. This included using charity funds to pay for her stay at a five-star hotel in Cannes, as well as spa treatments, room service and cigarettes. As a result, it imposed the ban on Campbell.
In its ruling, the tribunal confirmed there had been “serious misconduct and mismanagement,” but concluded that the “failures in the management of the charity’s finances and the misuse of its funds” resulted from Hellmich’s conduct. These, it added, were “concealed” from the supermodel.
The judges found that Hellmich “used forged documents” and also deceived professional advisers and the Charity Commission.
The judges also said that while Campbell shared responsibility for the charity failing to file its accounts on time, this did not mean she was unfit to be a charity trustee.
During the four-day hearing in June, Campbell said her “only mistake” was trusting Hellmich, who she alleged 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 me trusting someone that I knew, someone that was a lawyer,” Campbell said, telling the central London tribunal that she and the Charity Commission had been deceived.
The commission had opposed Campbell’s challenge and said the five-year ban should be upheld.
A probe into Fashion for Relief was opened by the commission in 2021, with the charity dissolved and removed from the register of charities in 2024.
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This story has been amended to correct the Charity Commission's ruling from last year to 2024.
