Naomi Campbell is back in the headlines, but not for walking the runway. Earlier in September, folks accused the iconic supermodel of being shady towards Rihanna and Anna Wintour. But now, it looks like she’s allegedly been shady with some charity funds according to Britain’s Charity Commission.
In a shocking report released on Thursday, Campbell is alleged to have “poorly governed” and had “inadequate financial management” as it relates to her nonprofit Fashion for Relief. She created the organization back in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. It officially became a nonprofit in 2015 in order to raise money for a myriad of humanitarian and environmental issues.
To be clear, Campbell is no longer running FFR and acts as a trustee. Yet, after a three-year investigation, the Commission accused Campbell and other trustees of “using their positions with the organization to pay for expensive flights, lavish hotel stays and cigarettes,” per PEOPLE.
The Commission also claimed Campbell and other trustees broke several rules that were put forth in the charity’s constitution such as not recording formal meeting minutes and expended for expensive travel that had nothing to do with the charity itself.
More from the U.K.’s Charity Commission’s findings:
The inquiry found that between April 2016 and July 2022, only 8.5% of the charity’s overall expenditure was on charitable grants. The inquiry saw no evidence that trustees had reviewed the charity’s operating model to ensure fundraising methods were in the charity’s best interest and costs were reasonable relative to income generated. It also found some of the charity’s fundraising expenditure was not reasonable.
The report also claimed that the nonprofit “failed to manage partnership arrangements” between it and two other organizations, namely Save the Children Fund and the Mayor’s Fund for London.
As noted by USA Today, co-trustees Bianka Hellmich and Veronica Chou, were also named in the report with Hellmich in particular standing accused of receiving over $388,000 in unauthorized consultancy fees. As a result, Campbell is now banned from leading any charitable organization in England and Wales for five years. Hellmuch and Chou are banned from serving as trustees for nine and four years, respectively. Fashion for Relief was dissolved earlier this spring.
Speaking to the AP after being named a knight in France’s Order of Arts and Letters on Thursday, Campbell responded to the allegations.
“I was not in control of my charity, I put the control in the hands of a legal employer. We are investigating to find out what and how, and everything I do and every penny I ever raised goes to charity,” she said.