Supermodel Naomi Campbell wins appeal against charity trustee ban
LONDON: Supermodel Naomi Campbell won her appeal on Thursday against a five-year ban from being a charity trustee, with a London tribunal ruling that the misuse of funds at the charity she founded had been concealed from her. Campbell, one of fashion’s most recognisable faces, founded Fashion for Relief in 2005, aiming to raise funds for humanitarian causes by staging runway shows. But it was…
On Thursday, supermodel Naomi Campbell secured a victory in her appeal against a five-year ban from serving as a charity trustee. The London tribunal found that the misuse of funds at the charity she founded, Fashion for Relief, had been concealed from her. Campbell, a prominent figure in fashion, established the charity in 2005 with the goal of raising funds for humanitarian causes through runway shows.
However, the charity was removed from the Charity Commission's register in 2024 and Campbell was subsequently banned as a trustee following allegations of mismanagement and misconduct. The Charity Commission had discovered significant financial mismanagement, including funds intended for charitable purposes being used for spa treatments, cigarettes, and room service during Campbell's stay at a luxury hotel in Cannes, France, in May 2018.
A lawyer serving as a trustee also received approximately £290,000 ($382,771) in unauthorized payments for purported consultancy fees. Despite these revelations, Campbell claimed she was unaware of the charity's misuse of funds and had been deceived by another trustee about the unauthorized payments. The First-Tier Tribunal, which heard her appeal, ruled that there had been "serious misconduct and mismanagement" at Fashion for Relief, but determined that Campbell was not responsible for the inappropriate use of the charity's resources or unjustified expenditures during her 2018 hotel stay.
The tribunal acknowledged that Campbell shared ultimate responsibility for the charity's failure to maintain proper minutes and submit its accounts on time, but concluded that this did not render her unfit to serve as a charity trustee. Naomi Campbell expressed her gratitude to the tribunal and the judges for carefully considering the evidence and the truth of the situation.
The Charity Commission stated that they were currently evaluating the potential wider implications of the ruling for their work. They noted that due to the regulatory interventions aimed at safeguarding Fashion for Relief's funds, other charities had received nearly £250,000 owed to them.
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