For the next five years, supermodel Naomi Campbell will not be able to serve as a charity trustee of Fashion for Relief, which she founded nearly two decades ago in 2005. The decision comes after a UK watchdog group found evidence of financial misconduct, noting that it was “poorly governed,” USA Today reported.
What the investigation found
According to the investigation, less than 9% of Fashion for Relief’s earnings went toward grants and causes. On top of that, expenses were described as “not reasonable.” Some of those expenses include Campbell’s stay at a five-star hotel and security as she attended a Cannes Film Festival event in 2018. The investigation also lists spa treatments and cigarettes as expenses.
Bianka Hellmich and Veronica Chou served as Campbell’s co-trustees, but they’ve also been banned from serving in their roles for nine and four years, respectively. Furthermore, the investigation found that Hellmich was paid over $388,000 in “unauthorized” consultancy fees.
More information about the inquiry
Fashion for Relief also had partnerships with Save the Children Fund and the Mayor’s Fund for London, but “failed to manage” both of them. As USA Today reported, “the commission brought in interim managers to make outstanding payments to the charities totaling about £345,000, or over $460,000.”
“This inquiry, and the work of the interim managers we appointed to run the charity in place of the trustees, has resulted in the recovery of £344,000 and protection of a further £98,000 charitable funds,” Charity Commission deputy director Tim Hopkins said in a statement. “I am pleased that the inquiry has seen donations made to other charities which this charity has previously supported.”
What Naomi Campbell says about the ordeal
Campbell was interviewed by the Associated Press after “being named a knight in France’s Order of Arts and Letters at the country’s culture ministry for her contribution to French culture,” the AP reported (via ABC News). She said she was “extremely concerned” by the findings.
“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.”
