Naomi Campbell says she was impersonated in appeal against charity ban

British supermodel Naomi Campbell has claimed she was impersonated in an appeal against her ban from being a charity trustee.

In September last year, Campbell was barred from her trustee status for the charity Fashion for Relief, after an England and Wales watchdog found a mismanagement of charity funds.

Campbell founded the charity in 2005 to organise fund-raising fashion shows to benefit victims of humanitarian crises, starting with Hurricane Katrina.

UK watchdog, the Charity Commission, accused the charity of “multiple instances of misconduct and/or mismanagement,” following a three-year investigation that found only 8.5% of the charity’s expenditure went on charitable grants from 2016 to 2022.

As a result, the watchdog gave the 54-year-old model a five-year ban from being a charity trustee.

Now, Campbell’s representation claims that some of the documentation submitted to the watchdog’s inquiry were misleading as to her involvement in the charity’s running.

They claim that a fake email was set up to impersonate Campbell when communicating with the Charity Commission lawyers. They say this means Campbell was unable to respond to the inquiry’s allegations.

The watchdog found that thousands of pounds worth of charity funds were used to pay for a luxury hotel stay in Cannes for Campbell as well as spa treatments, room service and even cigarettes.

Campbell’s response at the time was that she was “extremely concerned” by the findings of the regulator and that an investigation on her part was underway.

“I was not in control of my charity, I put the control in the hands of a legal employer,” she said. “We are investigating to find out what and how, and everything I do and every penny I ever raised goes to charity.”

On Friday 7 February, Campbell’s case will be heard in a tribunal. Yesterday, the model’s representation says she wants to “ensure that those responsible are held accountable and justice is done”.

“I want to shine a light on how easy it is to fake identities online and prevent anybody else going through what I have been through. I want to ensure that those responsible are held accountable and justice is done,” Campbell has said in a statement. She added that she has “fought to uncover the facts” and that what she discovered has been “shocking”.

Fashion for Relief was dissolved and removed from the charity register after the watchdog probe. On its website, which is still active, the charity said that it presented fashion initiatives and projects in New York, London, Cannes, Moscow, Mumbai and Dar es Salaam, raising more than $15 million (approx. €13.4m) for good causes around the world.

Campbell wasn’t the only trustee of the charity to be disqualified due to the probe. It also found that fellow trustee Bianka Hellmich received around £290,000 (€347,600) of unauthorized funds for consultancy services, which was in breach of the charity’s constitution. She has been disqualified as a trustee for nine years. Another trustee, Veronica Chou, was barred for four years.

The commission said that around £344,000 (€412,300) has been recovered and that a further £98,000 (€117,000) of charitable funds have been protected. These funds were used to make donations to two other charities and settle outstanding liabilities.