Naomi Campbell's Charity Governance Scandal: Supermodel Barred as Trustee for Financial Mismanagement

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 20 years ago was found to have been “poorly governed” with “inadequate financial management”, the Associated Press has reported.

The Charity Commission reportedly said Thursday that following a three-year investigation into the financial activities of “Fashion for Relief”, it had found “multiple instances of misconduct and/or mismanagement”.

The commission also reported that only 8.5 per cent of the charity’s overall expenditure went on charitable grants in a six-year period from 2016, according to the AP.

For example, it reportedly found 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 also 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, according to the AP.

It also reportedly found that fellow trustee Bianka Hellmich received around 290,000 pounds (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,” Tim Hopkins, deputy director for specialist investigations and standards, was quoted as saying.

“Our inquiry has found that the trustees of this charity failed to do so, which has resulted in our action to disqualify them,” Hopkins reportedly said.

The AP reported that the charity, which was founded in 2005 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, was dissolved and removed from the register of charities earlier this year.

It further reported that on its website, which is still active, the charity said that it presented fashion initiatives and projects in New York, London, Cannes, Moscow, Mumbai and Dar es Salaam, raising more than $15 million for good causes around the world. (AP)