Overview
- A Charity Commission probe found serious mismanagement at Fashion For Relief and led to the disqualification of Naomi Campbell and two co‑trustees in 2024 after it concluded charity money paid for a five‑star Cannes hotel stay, spa treatments, room service and cigarettes.
- Campbell told a central London appeal tribunal she was unaware charity funds covered those personal costs and said she understood a donor would pay the hotel while she personally met other expenses.
- Campbell’s lawyers say former trustee Bianka Hellmich misrepresented her legal credentials, forged Campbell’s signature and channelled large sums from the charity into personal payments, a claim supported by witness testimony that Campbell trusted Hellmich.
- The scale of payments to Hellmich is contested in the case, with Campbell’s team alleging in submissions that she received more than £500,000 from 2016–2021 while regulator accounts referenced lower figures; both Campbell and the Charity Commission have referred allegations of forgery and fraud to police.
- The tribunal’s pending ruling will decide whether the disqualifications stand and may set a precedent for how much oversight celebrity figureheads must exercise over charity finances, after the inquiry also found a low share of funds reached grants.