A Charity Commission inquiry found Fashion for Relief was not passing on as much of the money raised as it was supposed to. Instead it was being spent on cigarettes and security for Campbell and other unauthorised payments to one of her fellow charity trustees. "I've just found out today about the findings, and I am extremely concerned," Campbell, 54, told AP news agency.
She has been banned from charity involvement for five years with two other trustees, Bianka Hellmich and Veronica Chou, being banned for nine years and four years respectively. Representatives for the British model have been contacted by the BBC. The inquiry found that unauthorised payments totalling £290,000 for consultancy services had been made to Ms Hellmich, which was in breach of the charity’s constitution.
Whilst Ms Hellmich had proactively proposed repaying these funds, the Commission-appointed interim managers secured repayments to the charity. A sum of nearly £345,000 was recovered from the charity by investigators and protection for a further £98,000 of charity money has been established. The funds have been used to make payments to two other charities - Save the Children Fund and the Mayor’s Fund for London - and to cover the cost of Fashion for Relief's liabilities.
The inquiry, which looked at Fashion for Relief's expenses between April 2016 and July 2022, found that just 8.5% of funds raised were spent on grants to charity. Following the opening of the inquiry, both Save the Children Fu.