LONDON – Supermodel Naomi Campbell has taken the stand in a UK tribunal to challenge a five-year ban on serving as a charity trustee, arguing she was deliberately misled by a close colleague who was entrusted to manage the operations of her global disaster relief nonprofit.
The case stems from a 2024 ruling by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, which disqualified the 56-year-old supermodel after a year-long investigation uncovered widespread and serious financial mismanagement at Fashion for Relief, the philanthropic organization Campbell founded to support poverty alleviation and disaster response worldwide.
Regulators found that over a six-year period ending in 2022, just 8.5% of the charity’s total spending went to direct charitable grants to causes it was supposed to support. The investigation also uncovered that thousands of pounds in charitable funds were diverted to cover Campbell’s personal luxury expenses during a stay at a high-end resort in Cannes, France, including spa services, premium room service, and personal tobacco purchases.
Campbell launched her appeal against the disqualification last year, framing herself as an unwitting victim of systemic fraud and forgery carried out by her co-trustee, Bianka Hellmich. Appearing before the tribunal on Tuesday, the supermodel doubled down on those claims, alleging that Hellmich forged her signature on key financial documents and lied about holding professional credentials as a charity law specialist.
Campbell admitted she did not conduct independent background checks on Hellmich, saying she had reasonably assumed her colleague was operating in full compliance with legal and regulatory requirements for charitable organizations. In a pre-hearing written statement, Campbell emphasized that she has never pursued philanthropic work for personal financial gain, and never will.
The Charity Commission has also barred Hellmich from serving as a charity trustee for nine years, after the inquiry found she received roughly £290,000 ($385,000) in unauthorized payments for unapproved consultancy work. A third trustee, Veronica Chou, received a four-year disqualification over the findings.
Andrew Westwood, Campbell’s legal representative, told the tribunal that Hellmich persuaded Campbell to take a largely ceremonial “figurehead” role at the charity, while Hellmich carried out a years-long, coordinated scheme of mismanagement and deception that hid the organization’s true financial state from the founding trustee.
Fashion for Relief was first established in the United States in 2005 and officially registered as a charity in the UK in 2015. Its stated mission was to bring together global fashion industry leaders to fund poverty relief and emergency support for communities affected by natural disasters and humanitarian crises. The organization was dissolved and struck from the UK register of charities earlier this year following the regulator’s investigation. Additional witnesses are scheduled to give testimony on Wednesday as the tribunal hearing continues.