Naomi Campbell Says Fraud Fueled Fashion for Relief Misuse
Naomi Campbell told a tribunal in central London that naomi campbell was deceived by a fellow trustee and that “identity fraud and deception” drove the misuse of Fashion for Relief funds. She appeared in court on Tuesday in an effort to overturn a five-year charity ban imposed after a watchdog found widespread financial misconduct.
Campbell’s Tuesday testimony
Campbell told the tribunal that her “only mistake” was trusting Bianka Hellmich, the co-trustee and lawyer she accused of forging her signature and impersonating her through a fake email address. When pressed on whether she should have done more due diligence, she replied, “I trusted the wrong person, what more do you want?”
That answer leaves the case focused on control rather than intent. Campbell says the money was meant for Fashion for Relief, the charity she helped run; the watchdog’s findings put her conduct under a five-year bar, while Hellmich was banned for nine years and Veronica Chou was disqualified for four.
Fashion for Relief sanctions
Hundreds of thousands of pounds that should have gone to the charity were instead spent on luxury hotels, spa treatments, cigarettes and security for Campbell. That spending is the hard edge of this appeal: the tribunal is not just hearing a dispute over trust, but over how a charity’s money was handled after Fashion for Relief was registered in the UK and later dissolved in March 2024.
Campbell has always denied wrongdoing, and her lawyer Andrew Westwood KC said in written submissions that Hellmich carried out a long-term and consistent scheme of mismanagement and deception. Campbell also said Hellmich lied about her credentials as a charity lawyer and explained that she did not run reference or credential checks because Hellmich “came across as a lawyer” and had worked in “official positions.”
Police referral at tribunal
The tribunal heard that Campbell’s legal team and the Charity Commission have referred the forgery and fraud allegations to the police. The Charity Commission, represented by Faisel Sadiq, clarified that no individual had been reported, but that a report was made on allegations of fraud and providing false or misleading information to the commission.
Campbell’s appeal now turns on whether the tribunal accepts that Hellmich’s actions, not Campbell’s oversight, drove the misconduct case at Fashion for Relief. If the panel does not buy that argument, the five-year ban stays in place; if it does, the record on one of fashion’s better-known charity projects changes fast.
