British supermodel Naomi Campbell is to appeal against her ban on being a charity trustee, claiming a fake email was used to impersonate her.
It was revealed last year that the 54-year-old had been disqualified from being a charity trustee for five years after a watchdog found serious mismanagement of funds at Fashion for Relief, which she founded.
This included using charity funds to pay for her stay at a five-star hotel in Cannes, France, as well as spa treatments, room service and cigarettes.
Campbell was one of three of the charity’s trustees to be disqualified as a result of the probe by the Charity Commission, which regulates charities in England and Wales.
At the time, she said she was ‘extremely concerned’ by the regulator’s findings, adding that she was ‘not in control of my charity’ having ‘put the control in the hands of a lawyer’.
Her case is now due to come before a tribunal on Friday, and Campbell said she wants to ‘ensure that those responsible are held accountable and justice is done’.
Campbell claims in a ruling seen by Metro that she was misled by her fellow Fashion for Relief trustee Ms Bianka Tobinska (aka Hellmich).
She claims Hellmich had ‘purported to be assisting her, but had in fact perpetrated a systematic fraud against her by various means including the use of a fake email address used to correspond with previous lawyers and others, withholding information and, in effect, conducting a response to the Charity Commission’s enquiry and subsequent actions without the authority or knowledge of [Campbell].’
In response Hellmich told The Guardian: ‘There’s absolutely no truth to the allegations.’
Representatives for the model claim that documents submitted to the commission gave a false impression of her involvement in running the UK charity, with evidence of a fake email account which they said was used to impersonate Campbell in communications with lawyers.
They said she was therefore not made aware of the allegations being made in the watchdog’s inquiry and did not have the opportunity to answer them.
In a statement on Wednesday, Campbell said: ‘I am grateful to the tribunal for allowing me to appeal the Charity Commission’s findings after considering the evidence I have submitted. Ever since the commission’s report, I have fought to uncover the facts. What has been unearthed so far is shocking.
‘I want to shine a light on how easy it is to fake identities online and prevent anybody else going through what I have been through.
‘I want to ensure that those responsible are held accountable and justice is done.
‘Having begun legal action, I will have more to say in due course. This is just the beginning.
‘As I have said before, I have never undertaken philanthropic work for personal gain, nor will I ever do so.’
In a further statement on social media on February 6, Campbell wrote: ‘I’m happy to share that I’ve won permission to appear the Charity Commission’s ruling from last fall.
‘Ever since the Commission’s report, which was based on incomplete and inaccurate information, I have been fighting to uncover the facts.
‘The discoveries have been so disturbing and shocking that the Commission has agreed to revisit the case.
‘The personal toll of this ordeal has been immense. My team and I have watched years of humanitarian work being questioned while working tirelessly to uncover the truth. Yet through it all, we’ve emerged stronger and our supporters have stood by us. Your trust means everything.
‘Moving forward, I will advocate for freater protection against online identity theft – a devastating crime that can happen to anyone. They say what doesn’t break you makes you stronger, and I’m certainly feeling much stronger.’
A Charity Commission spokesperson told Metro in response to Campbell’s claims: ‘The Commission notes the Tribunal’s initial ruling and the judge’s comment that the case will require Ms Campbell to prove very serious allegations of wrongdoing against a fellow trustee.
‘These are significant allegations for the courts to consider, and we will continue to cooperate fully with the Tribunal as it does so.’
There was no criticism of the Charity Commission in the judge’s ruling granting Campbell an extension of time in which to appeal her disqualification.
The disqualification order remains in place while Campbell’s appeal is in progress, meaning the September 2024 findings remain unaffected at this stage in the proceedings.
A probe into Fashion for Relief was opened by the commission in 2021, with the charity dissolved and removed from the register of charities last year.
It had been set up with the aim of uniting the fashion industry to relieve poverty and advance health and education, by making grants to other organisations and giving resources towards global disasters.
It hosted fundraising events to generate income, including in Cannes and London.
Some £344,000 has been recovered and a further £98,000 of charitable funds protected, the Charity Commission said in September.
The regulator’s inquiry found that, between April 2016 and July 2022, 8.5% of the charity’s overall expenditure was on charitable grants.
The probe saw no evidence that trustees took action to ensure fundraising methods were in the charity’s best interests, or that the money it spent was reasonable relative to the income it generated.
It also said it found some fundraising expenditure to be misconduct or mismanagement by the charity’s trustees.
This included a 14,800 euro (£12,300) flight from London to Nice for transferring art and jewellery to a fundraising event in Cannes in 2018.
It also looked into the decision to spend 9,400 euros (£7,800) of charity funds on a three-night stay at a five-star hotel for Campbell.
In these cases, the trustees ‘failed to show how these were cost-effective and an appropriate use of the charity’s resources’, the commission said.
Furthermore, it examined expenses incurred by Campbell totalling nearly 7,940 euros (£6,600), alongside the hotel stay, paid for by the charity.
These costs included spa treatments, room service, and the purchase of cigarettes and hotel products.
The regulator said trustees explained that hotel costs were typically covered by a donor to the charity, therefore not costing the charity, but failed to provide any evidence to support this.
Bianka Hellmich was disqualified as a trustee for nine years, and Veronica Chou for four years, alongside Campbell’s five-year ban.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
