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 found to have been “poorly governed” with “inadequate financial management”. Following a three-year investigation into the financial activities of “Fashion for Relief”, the Charity Commission said Thursday (Sep 26) that 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.
It found, for example, 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 said that trustees explained that hotel costs were typically covered by a donor to the charity, therefore not costing the charity, but failed to provide any evidence to support this. It also found that fellow trustee Bianka Hellmich received around £290,000 (US$385,000) of unauthorised funds for consultancy services, which was in breach of the charity's constitution.
She has been disqualified as a trustee for nine years. The other trustee, Veronica Chou, was barred for four years. “Trustees are legally required to make decisions that are in their charity’s best interests and to comply with their legal duties and responsibilities,” said Tim Hopkins, deputy .
