With her organization “Fashion for Relief,” Naomi Campbell collected money for a good cause for years. But now the foundation is caught in a donations scandal – and Campbell claims to have known nothing.
Supermodel Heidi Klum, Hollywood star Jane Fonda, music queen Beyoncé Knowles: When Naomi Campbell called, they were all there. For years, the 54-year-old organized her “Fashion for Relief” event, a fashion show for a good cause, during fashion weeks in London and New York as well as on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival. Celebrity guests walked the catwalk or sat in the front row. But now the foundation is deep in a donations scandal.
The foundation was dissolved and removed from the register of British charities a few months ago. An investigation by the responsible British supervisory authority, The Charity Commission, has revealed that years of donations from “Fashion for Relief” were embezzled. Campbell and two colleagues have now been banned from running charities in England and Wales for five years. In an initial reaction, the model denied any responsibility for the misuse of the donations: “I had no control over my charity. I put control in the hands of a lawyer,” said Campbell.
Exhibition
She runs and runs and runs: Naomi Campbell has been the fashion world’s permanent model for 40 years
In a more detailed statement, which is available to the British newspaper “The Guardian”, among others, the Briton admitted mistakes, but she does not want to take full responsibility. She “perhaps did not participate as actively in the day-to-day running of the charity as she should have,” the statement said. But she was “never involved in any form of financial misconduct.”
Naomi Cambpell lived in the luxury hotel – paid for by donations
The agency’s investigation found that between April 2016 and July 2022, only 8.5 percent of donations were used for charitable purposes. Of the income of 4.8 million pounds (around 5.8 million euros), almost 4.6 million was spent on expenses. Including a suite for Naomi Campbell in a luxury hotel in Cannes. The cost of the three-day stay was 9,400 euros. In addition, there were 7,900 euros for spa treatments, room service and cigarettes. Naomi Campbell doesn’t claim to have known that all of this was financed with donations.
Instead, she said through her spokesman: “We have been committed for more than three decades [Campbell] tirelessly working for charity, always with the sole intention of helping others and never for personal gain. Naomi never received any payment for her involvement ‘Fashion for relief’ nor has she billed the organization for any personal expenses.”
The charities also came under criticism because the children’s charity Unicef was listed as a partner in the “Fashion for Relief” show in 2019. But they never gave their consent for this. “We take compliance with fundraising rules very seriously and Unicef UK reported Fashion for Relief 2019 to the Charity Commission in accordance with our legal requirements. We have never had an official partnership with ‘Fashion for relief’ and never received any funds from the 2019 event,” the aid organization said in a statement.
A spokesman for Campbell said that they had been in talks with Unicef, but the cooperation broke down at the last moment. A planned cooperation for future “Fashion for Relief” shows no longer came about due to the corona pandemic. Other organizations such as “Save the Children” and “Mayor’s Fund for London” complained that funds were withheld from them after working with “Fashion for Relief”. The promised sums of 200,000 pounds and 50,000 pounds respectively were only transferred after the foundation was dissolved.
Campbell founded the foundation 19 years ago and organized the first charity fashion show at Fashion Week in New York in September 2005. At that time, donations were collected for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. At later events, the proceeds would, among other things, benefit the survivors of the earthquake in Haiti and be used in the fight against Ebola. The last “Fashion for Relief” gala took place in London in 2019. During the Corona pandemic, the organization called for donations for disadvantaged children in London via its website.
Source: AFP
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
