Supermodel Naomi Campbell is in hot water after an investigation found that she may have been involved in misappropriating charity funds.
Campbell has been banned from serving as a charity trustee for five years following a shocking investigation by the Charity Commission. Their investigation found that Fashion for Relief only directed a minuscule portion of the millions of dollars it raised through glamorous celebrity fashion events toward charitable causes.
Instead, the charity spent tens of thousands of dollars on luxury hotel rooms, flights, spa treatments, personal security, and even cigarettes for Campbell. Moreover, unauthorized consultancy payments totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars were made to one of Campbell’s co-trustees.
Between 2016 and 2021, Fashion for Relief raised nearly $5.8 million from various fashion shows but allocated a mere $400,000 in grants to partner charities after covering event costs and other expenses. An additional nearly $350,000 was recovered by interim managers and distributed to Save the Children and the Mayor’s Fund for London—two charities that had reported Fashion for Relief to regulators after not receiving expected payments.
Bianka Hellmich, another trustee, was found to have received $360,000 in unauthorized consultancy fees and travel expenses over two years. She was banned from serving as a charity trustee for nine years but repaid the amounts in full in April 2023 after a repayment plan was agreed in early 2022. Veronica Chou, a third trustee, received a four-year ban.
The commission’s report highlighted serious mismanagement and disorganized record-keeping within Fashion for Relief. The charity’s financial practices were described as “chaotic,” with missing invoices, receipts, and meeting minutes. Despite not having full-time staff, the charity relied on external advisers for administrative and accounting tasks.
One shocking revelation was that Fashion for Relief was charged $16,000 for a flight to Cannes in 2018, where Campbell stayed in a $3,300-per-night hotel room, incurring over $4,300 in personal security costs. Additionally, nearly $8,500 was spent on spa treatments, room service, and other personal expenses during the trip. Although Campbell and Hellmich claimed these costs were recharged to an unnamed donor, the investigators found no evidence of such payments.
On Thursday, Campbell expressed to the AP that she is “extremely concerned” about the discovery. She mentioned that an investigation is currently underway on her side. Additionally, she clarified that she had not been in control of her charity and entrusted it to a lawyer.
Naomi Campbell says she's "extremely concerned" after being barred from being a charity trustee in England and Wales for five years. A UK commission found that her poverty charity was "poorly governed" with "inadequate financial management." pic.twitter.com/87wqWDplRT
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) September 26, 2024
Founded with the goal of combating poverty and aiding economically disadvantaged youth, Fashion for Relief was eventually declared insolvent and shut down in March 2024. Save the Children, which ended its relationship with the charity in 2018, expressed gratitude to the Charity Commission for recovering the owed funds but has no plans to collaborate with Fashion for Relief in the future.
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