Naomi Campbell Defends Role Amid Charity Mismanagement Scandal

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Naomi Campbell, the iconic supermodel, has defended herself after being disqualified from serving as a charity trustee for five years due to serious mismanagement of funds in her charity, Fashion For Relief. Campbell, 54, founded the charity in 2005 with the goal of alleviating poverty through a combination of fashion and philanthropy. However, an investigation revealed that only a small portion of the charity's spending was allocated to actual charitable causes, while significant amounts were spent on personal luxuries, such as spa treatments and cigarettes.

 

 

The Charity Commission, which regulates charities in England and Wales, launched an inquiry into Fashion For Relief in 2021, eventually dissolving the organization and removing it from the register of charities earlier this year. The investigation uncovered that only 8.5% of the charity’s expenditures between April 2016 and July 2022 went toward charitable grants. Misconduct included using the charity's funds to pay for Campbell’s stay at a five-star hotel in Cannes, France, along with associated expenses such as room service, spa treatments, and cigarettes.

 

Campbell expressed deep concern over the findings but maintained that she was not in direct control of the charity’s management. “I was not in control of my charity, I put the control in the hands of a legal employer,” she said after being honored with a knighthood in France's Order of Arts and Letters for her contributions to French culture. She assured that an internal investigation was ongoing to determine the full extent of the mismanagement, adding, "We are investigating to find out what and how, and everything I do and every penny I ever raised goes to charity."

 

As a result of the investigation, Campbell was disqualified from serving as a charity trustee for five years, alongside two other trustees, Bianka Hellmich and Veronica Chou, who were banned for nine and four years, respectively. The Charity Commission also recovered £344,000 and safeguarded an additional £98,000 in charitable funds. However, the report found no evidence that the trustees had taken sufficient action to ensure the charity’s fundraising methods were in its best interests or that its expenditures were justifiable.

 

One of the more significant expenditures uncovered by the Charity Commission included a €14,800 (£12,300) flight from London to Nice in 2018 to transport art and jewelry for a fundraising event in Cannes. Additionally, the charity spent €9,400 (£7,800) on a three-night stay for Campbell at a five-star hotel in Cannes, expenses the trustees were unable to justify as cost-effective. Campbell’s personal expenses, totaling nearly €7,940 (£6,600), were also flagged, covering spa treatments, room service, and cigarettes. While the trustees claimed these expenses were often covered by donors, they failed to provide any evidence to support this assertion.

 

Naomi Campbell, who rose to global fame after being discovered as a schoolgirl, was the first Black British model to grace the cover of British Vogue. In addition to her iconic career in fashion, Campbell recently welcomed her second child, a son, in 2023, two years after giving birth to her first child, a daughter, shortly before her 51st birthday.

 

Based on a report from: Sky News 2024-09-28

 

 

 

[jippytum]

Expenses taken from peoples donations for her charity  are outrageous. 

I used to donate to several charities until  i checked the salaries paid to charity officials. 

David Milliband for example receives a reported salary of 850'000 pounds sterling as executive for Humanitarian Aid.  Tha't swallows a lot of poor people's donations.