Naomi Campbell wins appeal over charity ban

Model Naomi Campbell has won her appeal against a ban on being a charity trustee, after a tribunal ruled that she was unaware of misconduct at her charity Fashion for Relief.

Campbell was banned from being a charity trustee for five years in 2024 after a watchdog found that Fashion for Relief funds had been spent on luxury hotels and spa treatments.

However, a tribunal said on Thursday , external that the most serious instances of misconduct in the charity "were concealed" from Campbell by a fellow trustee.

"Ms Campbell was not involved in, and did not know of, that conduct," the three-person tribunal panel said.

The supermodel set up Fashion for Relief to help victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and went on to front further campaigns for disasters and causes around the world.

However, the charity was shut in 2023 and Campbell and two other trustees were banned the following year after a Charity Commission inquiry found "serious mismanagement and/or misconduct" at Fashion for Relief, which was not passing on as much of the money raised as it was supposed to.

Campbell appealed, saying one of her fellow trustees, lawyer Bianka Hellmich, forged her signature and impersonated her using a fake email address to misdirect money that was intended for the charity.

Copyright for this text belongs to BBC.