London (AFP) – Former supermodel Naomi Campbell won a legal challenge on Thursday 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 Thursday 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 unauthorized 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 recognized 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 organizations and giving resources towards global disasters. It was dissolved and removed from the register of charities in 2024.
© 2024 AFP
