Naomi Campbell asks for ‘respect’ as she appeals five-year charity trustee ban
The supermodel, who was banned from being a charity trustee in 2024, has said she is a victim of "forgery and fraud"
Supermodel Naomi Campbell has asked for "respect" and claimed to have been "deceived" as she appeared in a tribunal to appeal a five-year ban on her role as a charity trustee.
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The 56-year-old was banned from being a trustee at Fashion For Relief, a charity she set up in 2005, after an investigation by a watchdog found charity funds had been misused.
Ms Campbell alleged that co-trustee and lawyer, Bianka Hellmich forged her signature and lied about her credentials as a charity lawyer to misdirect charity funds.
Ms Campbell told the tribunal on Tuesday that her "only mistake" was trusting Hellmich.
She told the tribunal on Tuesday: “I did not do a check on Bianca (Hellmich) – when I’m introduced to a lawyer, I assume they are acting within the law.”
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She rejected a suggestion that she should have checked, saying Hellmich “came across as a lawyer” and worked in “official positions”.
“I don’t look at it as a failure, I look at it as me trusting someone that I knew, someone that was a lawyer,” Ms Campbell said.
Campbell was one of three of the charity’s trustees to be disqualified as a result of the investigation, with Bianka Hellmich disqualified for nine years, and Veronica Chou for four years.
Judge Joe Neville intervened during exchanges between Faisel Sadiq, for the Charity Commission, and Campbell as he cross-examined her.
Campbell said: “I’m here because I have been deceived, you are here because you have been deceived, so let’s both be respectful to each other.”
The 56-year-old was banned from being a charity trustee for five years in 2024 after the UK charity regulator found evidence of financial misconduct.
An investigation by the Charity Commission revealed charity funds had been used to pay for her stay at a five-star hotel in Cannes, France, as well as spa treatments, room service and cigarettes.
The tribunal has previously heard claims from Campbell’s legal team that from 2016 to 2021, Hellmich appeared to have been paid in excess of £500,000 from charity funds.
In written submissions on behalf of Campbell, Andrew Westwood KC, said Ms Hellmich "held herself out as a lawyer with the expertise to handle the charity’s legal, regulatory and financial functions and advised Ms Campbell that she could properly confine herself to a limited role assisting with the charity’s fundraising efforts and strategy."
Bianka Hellmich previously told the Guardian there is "absolutely no truth to the allegations".
Faisel Sadiq, for the Charity Commission, said in his written submissions that “it was not legally open” to Campbell to “abdicate” her responsibilities as a trustee and simply act as a figurehead.
Mr Sadiq said: “Had you actually been doing your job then you would have been able to, had you been viewing the finances, you would have been able to see that Ms Hellmich is helping herself to large sums of money.”
“How could I see? I am across the Atlantic, how could I see? Again she is a lawyer and I trusted her,” replied Campbell.
Pressed by Mr Sadiq on whether she should have done more due diligence, Campbell told the tribunal: “I trusted the wrong person, what more do you want?
“You trusted her too because you were in communication with her until we let you know that you were deceived.”
As the morning evidence concluded, Campbell accused the commission of also failing to check Hellmich’s credentials.
“I’m one person, I don’t have a management team, the Charity Commission is a Government body, did you do your due diligence? No,” said Campbell.
The forgery and fraud alleged against Hellmich has been referred to the police by Campbell’s team and by the Charity Commission, the tribunal has heard
.Campbell completed her evidence on Tuesday afternoon, and other witnesses are due to give evidence on Wednesday.
Campbell told the tribunal that Fashion For Relief which was set up in the US in 2005 to unite the fashion industry with philanthropy did not “have a problem” before it became a registered charity in the UK.
The model said she “loved” the charity work and said “I’m already famous enough” at the suggestion that she might do it for “the PR”.