Naomi Campbell has admitted she failed in her duties as a trustee at the Fashion for Relief charity she founded – but has insisted she never engaged in financial misconduct or used the charity for personal gain during its chaotic nine-year existence. Campbell was last week banned from running a charity for five years after a scathing report found she and her two fellow trustees were culpable for multiple incidents of serious misconduct and financial mismanagement. Fashion for Relief raised nearly £4.
8m from fashion show fundraisers over five years to 2020 but gave just 10% of the £4.6m proceeds to partner charities in the form of grants, the Charity Commission inquiry found. It revealed that the charity – which was set up to raise money for good causes around the world – spent tens of thousands of pounds on luxury hotel rooms, spa treatments, personal security and cigarettes for Campbell at a Fashion for Relief charity fashion event.
A spokesperson for Campbell said she “acknowledges and accepts her accountability” as a Fashion for Relief trustee. While she admitted she “may not have been as actively engaged in the charity’s day-to-day operations as she should have been”, she said she had “never engaged in any form of financial misconduct”. A statement issued on behalf of Campbell on Friday said: “For over three decades, [Campbell] has dedicated herself tirelessly to charitable causes, always with the sole intention of helping others and never for pers.
