Supermodel Naomi Campbell wins appeal against ban on serving as charity trustee

Supermodel Naomi Campbell on Thursday won her appeal 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 removed from the Charity Commission's register in 2024 and Campbell banned as a trustee shortly afterwards following complaints of mismanagement and misconduct.

The Charity Commission found widespread financial mismanagement, including money raised for good causes having been spent on spa treatments, cigarettes and room service when Campbell was staying at a five-star hotel near Cannes in south France in May 2018.

A lawyer acting as a trustee for the charity also received around £290,000 ($382,771) in unauthorised payments for apparent consultancy fees.

Campbell, however, said she had no knowledge that charity funds were spent on her expenses and was deceived by another trustee about the unauthorised payments.

Her appeal was allowed by the First-Tier Tribunal, which said in its ruling that there was "serious misconduct and mismanagement" at Fashion for Relief, but that the unauthorised payments and misuse of funds were concealed from Campbell.

The tribunal also found that Campbell "was not responsible for the inappropriate use of the charity's resources or any unjustified expenditure" during her 2018 hotel stay.

Campbell "did share ultimate responsibility for the charity's failure to keep proper minutes and file its accounts on time", the tribunal added, but ruled that did not mean she was unfit to be a charity trustee.

A spokesperson for Campbell and the Charity Commission did not immediately comment.

($1 = 0.7576 pounds)

-Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Michael Holden/Reuters