British supermodel Naomi Campbell has been barred from being a charity trustee in England and Wales for five years after the poverty charity she founded nearly two decades ago was deemed on Thursday to have been “poorly governed” with “inadequate financial management”.
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Following a three-year investigation into the financial activities of “Fashion for Relief”, the Charity Commission, which registers and regulates charities in England and Wales, said it had found “multiple instances of misconduct and/or mismanagement”, and that only 8.5 per cent of the charity’s overall expenditure went on charitable grants in a six-year period from 2016.
For example, it said that thousands of pounds worth of charity funds were used to pay for a luxury hotel stay in Cannes, France, for Campbell as well as spa treatments, room service and even cigarettes. The regulator sought explanations from the trustees but said no evidence was provided to back up their explanation that hotel costs were typically covered by a donor to the charity, therefore not costing the charity.
I was not in control of my charity, I put the control in the hands of a legal employer
Campbell, 54, said she was “extremely concerned” by the findings of the regulator and that an investigation on her part was under way.
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“I was not in control of my charity, I put the control in the hands of a legal employer,” she said right after receiving the prestigious Ordre des Arts et des Lettres award at the French Culture Ministry. “We are investigating to find out what and how, and everything I do and every penny I ever raised goes to charity.”