Naomi Campbell’s five-year charity trustee ban overturned

The First-tier Tribunal allowed Campbell’s appeal against the Charity Commission for England and Wales on 1 October, quashing the order that barred her from serving as a charity trustee in England and Wales. [1]

At Fashion for Relief, the tribunal found that co-trustee Bianka Hellmich was responsible for the most serious financial failures, including unauthorised payments and misuse of funds, and had concealed them from Campbell. It found that Hellmich used forged documents and an email address purporting to be Campbell’s to deceive Campbell, advisers and the regulator. Campbell did not know of or participate in that conduct, the tribunal said. [1]

The Charity Commission’s inquiry found that Hellmich received £290,572 in unauthorised consultancy fees while a trustee, and recorded that she repaid the full sum in April 2023. [3] Hellmich denied Campbell’s allegations through her solicitors. She was not a party to the appeal and did not give evidence. [1]

The tribunal nevertheless found that Campbell shared ultimate responsibility for the charity’s failure to keep proper minutes and file accounts on time. It ruled that those failings did not make her unfit to act as a trustee. It also rejected her separate argument that the original process was procedurally unfair. [1]