Supermodel Naomi Campbell was recently found to have severely mismanaged finances for the charity Fashion for Relief and has been disqualified from being a charity trustee in the U.K. for the next five years.

Fashion for Relief was originally founded by Campbell in 2005 as a charity committed to poverty relief and the advancement of education and healthcare. It was expected to give grants to charities or other nonprofit organizations and directly provide resources to people in need. 

However, an inquiry found that between April 2016 and July 2022, just 8.5% of its spending went to charities. The funds were instead used to pay for Campbell’s spa treatment, room service charges and hotel rooms. 

In one case, the charity spent $10,500 for three nights for Campbell at a five-star hotel in Cannes, France. 

The inquiry was released on Thursday and presented “multiple instances of misconduct.” Due to these findings, Campbell has been banned from running a charity in Britain for half a decade.

Fashion for Relief had previously claimed it should not be considered just a fundraising charity but a platform that would motivate big donors to send money directly to support good causes.

After the findings were released, Tim Hopkins, Charity Commission Deputy Director for Specialist Investigations and Standards, declared, “Trustees are legally required to make decisions that are in their charity’s best interests and to comply with their legal duties and responsibilities. Our inquiry has found that the trustees of this charity failed to do so, which has resulted in our action to disqualify them.”

Two other trustees, businesswoman Veronica Chou and layer Bianka Hellmich, were also disqualified from their roles and banned for four and nine years, respectively.

Campbell has long been an icon in the industry, having become the first black model to be featured on the cover of U.K. Vogue in 1987.

The supermodel made headlines earlier this month when she dissed Vogue editor Anna Wintour at an awards ceremony. 

Read more about:
avatar

Article by Baila Eve Zisman

Leave a comment

Subscribe to the uInterview newsletter