Naomi Campbell banned from charity role after investigation found funds were spent on hotels, spas, cigarettes
Naomi Campbell has been banned from being a charity trustee in England and Wales for five years after an investigation into her charitable organization uncovered evidence of financial misconduct.
On Thursday, the Charity Commission, which registers and regulates charities in England and Wales, released a report following a three-year inquiry into the 54-year-old British supermodel’s charity Fashion For Relief, which determined that the organization was “poorly governed and had inadequate financial management.”
The Charity Commission reported that it found “multiple instances of misconduct and / or mismanagement” at Fashion For Relief and discovered only 8.5% of its overall spending went toward charitable grants and causes from April 2016 to July 2022.
In addition, the investigation identified that some of Fashion For Relief’s expenditures were “not reasonable. It revealed that thousands of pounds in charitable funds were spent on a luxury hotel stay for Campbell in Cannes, France, including spa treatments, room service and cigarettes.
Fox News Digital has reached out to a representative for Campbell for comment.
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On Friday, Campbell responded to the Charity Commission’s findings, which she said were “deeply flawed” in a statement to the PA news agency, via CBS News.
“First of all, I recognize that, as the face of Fashion for Relief, I am ultimately responsible for its conduct,” Campbell said. “Unfortunately, I was not involved in the day-to-day operations of the organization, and I entrusted the legal and operational management to others.”
The Vogue cover star added that she has “instructed new advisers to undertake a detailed investigation of what transpired.”
Additionally, Campbell told the Associated Press that “everything I do and every penny I ever raised goes to charity.”
The Charity Commission also found that fellow Fashion for Relief trustee Bianka Hellmich received around 290,000 pounds ($385,000) 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. The other trustee, Veronica Chou, was barred for four years.
“Every penny I ever raised goes to charity.”
Fashion for Relief, which was founded in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, was dissolved and removed from the register of charities in March.
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 for good causes around the world.
The charity 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 organizations and giving resources towards global disasters.
The commission said that around 344,000 pounds ($460,000) has been recovered and that a further 98,000 pounds of charitable funds have been protected. These funds were used to make donations to two other charities and settle outstanding liabilities.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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