Supermodel Naomi Campbell has told an appeal tribunal she was unaware that charity funds may have been used to cover personal luxuries, including a stay at a Cannes hotel and spa treatments.
The 56-year-old was disqualified for five years from acting as a charity trustee in 2024, following a Charity Commission investigation into serious mismanagement of funds at Fashion For Relief, the organisation she founded.
The inquiry found that charity money had been used to pay for her stay at a five-star hotel in Cannes, France, along with spa treatments, room service, and cigarettes in 2018.
During proceedings on Wednesday, Judge Joe Neville, presiding over the central London panel hearing Miss Campbell’s legal challenge against the ban, questioned her understanding of how payments were processed.
Faisel Sadiq, representing the Charity Commission, stated: "As a general rule, Miss Campbell paid for her hotel stay and other expenses herself unless they were covered by a third party such as charity donor."
He added: "Miss Campbell’s understanding about the costs of this particular event was that the cost of her hotel stay for the period of the event in Cannes was to be covered by her friend and charity donor Fernando Sulichin, and that, as was her usual practice, she would personally pay for the expenses she incurred during her stay including meals and spa treatments."
Mr Sadiq continued: "As also was her usual practice, the expenses were paid by Miss Campbell’s travel agent. Ms Campbell does not know why the charity then reimbursed the agent for the personal expenses Miss Campbell incurred at the hotel."
Andrew Westwood KC, representing Miss Campbell, confirmed this as her evidence, noting it remained unchallenged during her court appearance on Tuesday.
Miss Campbell was one of three trustees disqualified, alongside Bianka Hellmich for nine years and Veronica Chou for four. Giving evidence, Miss Campbell asserted her "only mistake" was trusting Ms Hellmich, whom she alleges forged her signature and misrepresented her credentials as a charity lawyer.
Victoria Granados, an assistant business manager for an entertainment company in New York, testified on Wednesday that "Naomi trusted her (Hellmich)," adding, "I think she was involved with her personally" and may have assisted with matters such as swimming lessons for Miss Campbell’s children.
Miss Campbell’s legal team previously claimed to the tribunal that Ms Hellmich appeared to have received over £500,000 from charity funds between 2016 and 2021.
In written submissions, Mr Westwood KC stated: "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 – in effect, acting as a figurehead – while Ms Hellmich assumed responsibility for those regulatory and financial functions."
He further alleged: "Ms Hellmich carried out a long-term and consistent scheme of mismanagement and deception in relation to the running of the charity, and she concealed the same from Ms Campbell and others." Both Miss Campbell’s team and the Charity Commission have referred the allegations of forgery and fraud against Ms Hellmich to the police.
