A first-tier tribunal has overturned Naomi Campbell’s five-year ban from serving as a charity trustee after it ruled the supermodel was deceived by another board member.
British supermodel Campbell was disqualified by the Charity Commission in September 2024 after it found her Fashion for Relief charity “poorly governed” and with “inadequate financial management”.
But the court overturned Campbell’s disqualification today after an appeal hearing found that the most serious failings stemmed from fellow former trustee Bianka Hellmich, said to have hidden them from the supermodel.
Unauthorised payments, financial mismanagement and fund misuse were among the most serious failings which the court attributed to Hellmich.
Hellmich and another ex-trustee Veronica Chou were also banned by the commission in 2024 for nine and four years, respectively.
In a statement to Civil Society this afternoon, a commission spokesperson said: “We made the disqualification order for Ms Campbell based on the evidence available to us at the time.
“The court recognised that Ms Campbell, the commission and the law firm concerned were subject to sophisticated deception by one of the other trustees.
“This was referred to the Metropolitan police when we became aware.
“We acknowledge and will reflect on the court's decision and are considering any wider implications for our work.”
The spokesperson added that the commission had banned the charity’s three trustees for differing lengths of time due to “strong evidence of mismanagement”.
Other charities received about £250,000 after commission interventions to protect Fashion for Relief’s funds, the spokesperson added.
‘Hellmich deceived Ms Campbell’
The commission opened a proactive compliance visit and inspection into Fashion for Relief in September 2020, finding governance and financial regulatory concerns.
It subsequently issued an action plan in March 2021, followed by a statutory inquiry in November that year.
The regulator identified serious misconduct and mismanagement, including £290,000 of unauthorised payments to Hellmich.
Campbell was disqualified three years later, along with Chou and Hellmich.
The court did criticise Campbell for the charity’s failure to keep proper minutes and file its accounts on time, but said that it was “seriously unlikely” doing so would have prevented the consequences of Hellmich’s conduct.
“Hellmich deceived Ms Campbell, used forged documents and a false email address purporting to belong to her, and also deceived professional advisers and the commission,” the court heard.
“Ms Campbell was not involved in, and did not know of, that conduct.”
Campbell and Chou were approached for comment. Hellmich did not have publicly available contact information.
