A tearful Naomi Campbell tonight insisted ‘I was not in control of my charity’ after she was banned as a trustee following an inquiry into her organisation’s cash splurge.
Campbell, 54, spoke to reporters in Paris to break her silence and address the Charity Commission’s findings into Fashion For Relief.
Details emerged earlier today that the organisation splurged £12,000 on a flight to Nice to transfer art and jewellery, as well as splashing out £7,800 on a luxury hotel stay for the model.
Speaking ahead of a glitzy ceremony where she was honoured with the most prestigious cultural award in France, she explained she was ‘extremely concerned’ but said: ‘I was not in control of my charity.’
The details of the charity’s spending were revealed as Campbell was today disqualified from being a trustee for five years.
An inquiry found that between April 2016 and July 2022, just 8.5 per cent of the charity’s overall spending was on charitable grants.
It also said it found some fundraising expenditure to be misconduct or mismanagement by the charity’s trustees.
This included a £12,300 flight from London to Nice in 2018 for transferring art and jewellery.
Campbell told reporters she only found out today she had been barred as a trustee.
‘We are investigating on our side as I was not in control of my charity,’ she said. ‘I put the control in the hands of a legal lawyer so we are investigating to find out what and how, as anything I do and every penny I ever raise goes towards charities.’
Campbell, wearing a black and white striped Chanel dress, broke down in tears as she received the Chevalier de l’Ordres des Arts et des Lettres, before embracing French Culture Minister Rachida Dati in an emotional hug.
Dabbing tears away from her cheeks with the palm of her hand, she said it was with ‘profound gratitude’ that she accepted the appointment to the Knights of the Orders of Arts and Letters.
The Charity Commission’s inquiry also looked into the decision to spend £7,800 of charity funds on a three-night stay at a five-star hotel in Cannes, France, for Campbell. While there she spent £6,000 on spa treatments, room service, and cigarettes.
The commission said today that as a result of its investigation, more than £344,000 had been recovered and used to make donations to two other charities and settle Fashion For Relief’s outstanding liabilities.
It follows revelations by the Mail On Sunday that official accounts showed that it spent more than £1.6million on a glittering gala in Cannes, but gave just £5,000 to good causes over a 15-month period.
The Charity Commission confirmed in April that it had removed the supermodel’s charity from the UK charity register while it continued its investigation into allegations of misconduct.
And today the Commission published the report of its statutory inquiry into Fashion For Relief, concluding the charity was poorly governed and had inadequate financial management.
Campbell was disqualified from being a trustee for five years, former colleagues Bianka Hellmich for nine and Veronica Chou for four.
The model founded the charity in 2005, saying she had been inspired by her friend Nelson Mandela telling her to ‘use [her] voice’ for good.
The organisation claimed to have raised more than £11million, mostly through glitzy fundraising events held all over the world, including in New York, Mumbai and Moscow.
Campbell would take centre stage at the galas, appearing in showstopping designer gowns, and was honoured by the British Fashion Council for her services to and achievements in the fashion industry in 2019.
But concerns were raised in 2021 about how much money was being passed on to people in need after the Mayor’s Fund for London lodged an official complaint, saying that it was owed £50,000 by the charity.
The Mayor’s Fund, which helps young Londoners from low-income backgrounds, filed a ‘serious incident’ report with the Charity Commission, which announced a statutory inquiry in November that year.
In these cases, the trustees ‘failed to show how these were cost-effective and an appropriate use of the charity’s resources’, the Charity Commission said.
The inquiry saw no evidence trustees had reviewed the charity’s operating model to ensure fundraising methods were in the organisation’s best interest and that costs were reasonable relative to cash brought in.
And it also found some of the charity’s fundraising expenditure was not reasonable.
The charity had held fundraising events for the Save the Children Fund and the Mayor’s Fund for London.
The inquiry found that the trustees of Fashion for Relief ‘failed to manage these partnership arrangements’.
The commission also said unauthorised payments totalling £290,000 for consultancy services had been made to trustee Ms Hellmich, which was in breach of the charity’s constitution.
And the charity’s funds were held and applied on its behalf by external professional advisors rather than in a dedicated bank account in Fashion For Relief’s name.
Tim Hopkins, the Charity Commission’s deputy director for specialist investigations and standards, said: ‘Trustees are legally required to make decisions that are in their charity’s best interests and to comply with their legal duties and responsibilities.
‘Our inquiry has found that the trustees of this charity failed to do so, which has resulted in our action to disqualify them.
‘This inquiry, and the work of the interim managers we appointed to run the charity in place of the trustees, has resulted in the recovery of £344,000 and protection of a further £98,000 charitable funds.
‘I am pleased that the inquiry has seen donations made to other charities which this charity has previously supported.’
The trustees were Ms Campbell, her key aide Ms Chou who is the heiress to a £2 billion textile fortune, and socialite and lawyer Ms Hellmich.
Ms Chou quit the charity days after the Commission launched its probe in 2021.
A spokesman for the charity said in April when it was removed from the charity register: ‘The winding up of Fashion For Relief was a decision made by the trustees three years ago. It was not forcibly closed.
‘Fashion For Relief operates in America and will continue to do fundraising initiatives worldwide.’
has contacted Fashion For Relief and representatives for Naomi Campbell for comment.