Naomi Campbell wins legal appeal over charity ban

Naomi Campbell has won her legal appeal against a five-year ban from being a charity trustee.

A ruling from a tribunal on Thursday found that the misuse of funds in the charity "were concealed" from Campbell by a fellow trustee.

The supermodel founded Fashion for Relief in 2005 to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, with the charity raising funds for humanitarian causes through runway shows.

The charity closed in 2023 and was removed from the Charity ​Commission's register in 2024 following complaints of "serious mismanagement and/or misconduct," with Campbell being banned as a trustee for five years.

It found widespread mismanagement of funds, including money raised for good causes spent on luxury hotels and room service when Campbell was staying near Cannes in the south of France in May 2018.

Campbell, 56, appealed the ban, claiming that she had no knowledge the funds had been used in this way and had been deceived by another trustee about the unauthorised payments.

The First-Tier Tribunal panel ruled that Campbell's claim that she was deceived had been corroborated by documentary evidence and that the unauthorised payments and misuse of funds were concealed from her.

"For the avoidance of doubt, we accept that both Ms Campbell's evidence, as well as her conduct during the operation of the Charity, was entirely honest," they said.

"I'm so grateful to the tribunal and the ​judges for ⁠taking the time to hear my side, look at the evidence and see the truth of what happened," Campbell said in a statement following the judgement.

"Now I can get back to what matters most to me: being there for the people and communities I've always wanted to serve."