Naomi Campbell overturns five-year charity trustee ban after tribunal ruling
A tribunal found Naomi Campbell was deceived by a fellow trustee and overturned her five-year charity trustee ban, while the Charity Commission defended its original disqualification.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Naomi Campbell has overturned a five-year ban on being a charity trustee after a tribunal found she was deceived by a fellow trustee.
The 56-year-old said she was so grateful after the ruling and thanked the judges. She had been disqualified in 2024 after the charity regulator concluded there had been serious mismanagement of funds at Fashion for Relief, the charity she founded. The findings included thousands of pounds of charity money being used to pay for a trip to France, as well as payments for spa treatments, room service and cigarettes.
In today's ruling, the tribunal found Campbell had been deceived by fellow trustee and lawyer Bianca Hellmich. It found she did not know the hotel charges had come out of the charity's expenses. The judges said Hellmich used forged documents and also deceived the Charity Commission, conduct Campbell was not involved in. Hellmich has denied the allegations.
Fashion for Relief was set up in 2005 to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. It later campaigned for humanitarian causes around the world. It was dissolved and removed from the register of charities in 2024.
In a statement, Campbell thanked the judges and said giving back had been part of who she was, so the question had hurt deeply. She said she could now get back to what mattered most to her, being there for the people and communities she had always wanted to serve.
It is understood to be only the second time a disqualification by the Charity Commission has been overturned in a tribunal. A Charity Commission spokesperson said its intervention had ensured £250,000 of funds raised for charities were passed on to the organisations. It said it made the disqualification based on the evidence it had at the time.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| A tribunal found Naomi Campbell was deceived by Bianca Hellmich, did not know hotel charges came from the charity's expenses, and was not involved in Hellmich's forged documents or deception of the Charity Commission. | |
| The Charity Commission said its intervention ensured £250,000 raised for charities was passed on. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
ITV1 was the only channel in this set to cover the story, using a studio explainer in its evening bulletin. It focused on the tribunal's finding that Campbell was deceived, the spending details behind the original ban, and the Charity Commission's defence of its decision. The tone was neutral and factual, with prominence given to Campbell's statement and the rarity of a successful appeal.
- “Naomi Campbell says she's so grateful after overturning a five-year ban on being a charity trustee.”
- “In today's ruling, the tribunal found that she'd been deceived by fellow trustee and lawyer Bianca Hellmich and that she did not know the hotel charges had come out of the charity's expenses.”
- “It's understood to only be the second time that a disqualification by the charity's commission has been overturned in a tribunal.”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.