Tribunal overturns Naomi Campbell’s five-year trustee ban

A UK tribunal overturned Naomi Campbell’s five-year ban on serving as a charity trustee, finding that although serious financial misconduct occurred at Fashion for Relief, Campbell was deceived by fellow trustee Bianka Hellmich and did not know about the most serious misuse of funds. The charity regulator’s investigation had cited expenses from Campbell’s 2018 Cannes stay, including spa treatments and room service, and more than £290,000 in unauthorized payments to Hellmich. The tribunal said Campbell shared responsibility for failures such as late financial filings, but those shortcomings did not make her unfit to serve as a trustee given the deception she faced. The Charity Commission said its original disqualification was based on the evidence available at the time and acknowledged that it, Campbell and others had been subjected to sophisticated deception.