Naomi Campbell has been barred from being a charity trustee after an investigation into the charitable organisation which she founded, Fashion for Relief, uncovered serious mismanagement of funds.
It found charity funds were used to pay for Campbell’s stay at a five-star hotel in Cannes, France, as well as spa treatments, room service and cigarettes.
The British supermodel is one of three of the charity’s trustees to be disqualified as a result of the probe.
Bianka Hellmich has been disqualified as a trustee for nine years, and Veronica Chou for four years, alongside Campbell’s five-year ban.
It means they are prevented from being a trustee or holding a senior management role in any charity in England and Wales for the length of the disqualification.
Campbell’s disqualification comes as she accepted a French award that recognises significant contributions to the arts and literature.
She was made a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters at the French Ministry for Culture hours after the Charity Commission announced its findings on Thursday.
Naomi Campbell tells reporters “I was not in control of my charity”
Speaking to reporters, Campbell said: “I just found out today about the findings, and I’m extremely concerned, and we are investigating on our side as I was not in control of my charity, I put the control in the hands of a lawyer.
“And so we are investigating to find out what and how, as everything I do and every penny I ever raised goes towards charities.”
The commission registers and regulates charities in England and Wales, and opened an inquiry into Fashion for Relief in 2021.
The charity, which it says was founded by Campbell in 2015, was dissolved and removed from the register of charities earlier this year.
It had been set up with the aim of uniting the fashion industry to relieve poverty and advance health and education, by making grants to other organisations and giving resources towards global disasters.
It hosted fundraising events to generate income, including in Cannes and London.
Some £344,000 has been recovered and a further £98,000 of charitable funds protected, the regulator said.
The Charity Commission’s inquiry found that between April 2016 and July 2022, 8.5% of the charity’s overall expenditure was on charitable grants.
The probe saw no evidence that trustees took action to ensure fundraising methods were in the charity’s best interests, or that the money it spent was reasonable relative to the income it generated.
It also said it found some fundraising expenditure to be misconduct or mismanagement by the charity’s trustees.
This included a 14,800 euro (£12,300) flight from London to Nice for transferring art and jewellery to a fundraising event in Cannes in 2018.
It also looked into the decision to spend 9,400 euros (£7,800) of charity funds on a three-night stay at a five-star hotel for Campbell.
In these cases, the trustees “failed to show how these were cost-effective and an appropriate use of the charity’s resources”, the Charity Commission said.
The probe saw no evidence that trustees took action to ensure fundraising methods were in the charity’s best interests, or that the money it spent was reasonable relative to the income it generated.
The regulator said trustees explained that hotel costs were typically covered by a donor to the charity, therefore not costing the charity, but failed to provide any evidence to support this.
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