Naomi Campbell wins appeal over charity ban

In its ruling, the First-Tier Tribunal panel said Campbell’s claim that she was deceived had been corroborated by documentary evidence.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we accept that both Ms Campbell’s evidence, as well as her conduct during the operation of the Charity, was entirely honest,” they said.

They said Campbell did not know €4,386 (£3,750) of hotel charges from a trip to the south of France in 2018 – including €1,298 (£1,100) for dinner room service, €1,163 (£990) for spa treatments and €112 (£95) for cigarettes – had come out of the charity’s expenses.

“The panel is satisfied that Ms Campbell was not responsible for the inappropriate use of the charity’s resources or any unjustified expenditure, nor did she contribute or facilitate it,” they said.

Campbell must take some responsibility for failures to maintain minutes and file accounts on time – but that was not enough to disqualify the model as a charity trustee, the tribunal said.

“There was serious misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the charity she founded, Fashion for Relief,” the ruling said.

“The Tribunal has found, however, that its most serious features, including unauthorised payments to Ms Campbell’s co-trustee, Bianka Hellmich, failures in the management of the Charity’s finances and the misuse of its funds, resulted from Ms Hellmich’s conduct and were concealed from Ms Campbell.”

Unauthorised payments of more than £290,000 were made to Hellmich for apparent consultancy fees, the inquiry found.

The tribunal ruling continued: “Ms Hellmich deceived Ms Campbell, used forged documents and a false email address purporting to belong to her, and also deceived professional advisers and the Commission.

“Ms Campbell was not involved in, and did not know of, that conduct.

“The Tribunal finds that she had no reasonable basis to suspect Ms Hellmich’s dishonesty before regulatory concerns emerged and, when they did, Ms Campbell took reasonable steps in response.”

The ruling said Hellmich’s solicitors wrote to the tribunal to deny the allegations against her, but she was not called to give evidence and did not take part in the proceedings.

A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “We made the disqualification order for Ms Campbell based on the evidence available to us at the time.

“The court recognised that Ms Campbell, the Commission and the law firm concerned were subject to sophisticated deception by one of the other trustees. This was referred to the Metropolitan Police when we became aware.

“We acknowledge and will reflect on the court’s decision and are considering any wider implications for our work.”

The Charity Commission also said its intervention ensured other charities including Save the Children and The Mayor’s Fund for London received almost £250,000 that was owed to them.

BBC News has tried to contact Campbell and Hellmich.