Model Naomi Campbell has been banned from serving as a charity trustee after a UK watchdog discovered that charity funds were misused for luxury hotels and spa treatments.
A Charity Commission inquiry revealed that Fashion for Relief was not allocating as much of the money it raised as it should have.
Instead, funds were spent on items such as cigarettes and security for Campbell, as well as unauthorized payments to one of her fellow charity trustees.
“I just learned about the findings today, and I am extremely concerned,” Campbell, 54, told the AP news agency. She added that she was not the one “in control” of the charity.
She has been banned from charity involvement for five years, while two other trustees, Bianka Hellmich and Veronica Chou, received bans of nine years and four years, respectively.
Representatives for the British model have been contacted by the BBC.
The inquiry found that unauthorized payments totaling £290,000 had been made to Ms. Hellmich for consultancy services, which violated the charity’s constitution. Although Ms. Hellmich had proposed to repay these funds, the interim managers appointed by the Commission managed to secure repayments to the charity.
Investigators recovered nearly £345,000 from the charity and put protective measures in place for an additional £98,000 of charity funds.
These recovered funds were used to make payments to two other charities—Save the Children Fund and the Mayor’s Fund for London—and to cover Fashion for Relief’s liabilities.
The inquiry, which examined Fashion for Relief’s expenses from April 2016 to July 2022, found that only 8.5% of the raised funds were allocated to charity grants.
Following the commencement of the inquiry, both Save the Children Fund and the Mayor’s Fund for London filed complaints with the Commission regarding Fashion for Relief.
Fashion for Relief organized fundraising events for these two charities but failed to properly manage its partnership arrangements.
Tim Hopkins, a member of the investigation team, stated, “Trustees are legally required to make decisions that are in their charity’s best interests and to adhere to their legal duties and responsibilities.”
He added, “Our inquiry found that the trustees of this charity did not fulfill these obligations, leading to our decision to disqualify them.”
Fashion for Relief was removed from the register of charities on March 15, 2024.
