(London) British top model Naomi Campbell has been singled out for “excessive” spending and will no longer be able to hold a position as an administrator in a charitable organization after an investigation by the British regulator into “Fashion for relief”, the association she was created in 2005.
On Thursday, the charities regulator revealed that between April 2016 and July 2022, only 8.5% of its organisation’s overall spending on tackling poverty was spent on charitable grants.
Among the expenses highlighted: a plane ticket of 12,300 pounds (or 22,200 Canadian dollars) from London to Nice to transfer works of art and jewelry to a fundraising event in Cannes in 2018.
Or even a hotel bill in the amount of 7,800 pounds (or 14,000 Canadian dollars) for three nights. The hotel in question was a five star. The total bill included spa fees, room service and the purchase of cigarettes and hotel products.
“The investigation failed to establish that the administrators had reviewed the association’s operating model to ensure that fundraising methods were in the association’s interest and that costs were reasonable,” writes the regulator in its press release.
It also points to payments totaling 290,000 pounds (or 524,000 Canadian dollars) for consulting services for the benefit of a director, which was contrary to the statutes of the charitable organization and falls under a ” poor management” of the association’s funds.
“Fashion for relief” has been removed from the charity register.
The information was published while the 54-year-old model was in Paris, where she was decorated with the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati.
“I am extremely concerned. We are investigating on our side, because I did not have control of my charitable organization, I had entrusted it to a lawyer,” she assured the press.
Naomi Campbell is one of the biggest (and highest paid) stars of the 90s supermodel era, along with Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelista.
The star, known for his short temper, was sentenced in 2007 to five days of community service in New York for throwing his phone at an assistant.