By Surbhi Misra
London: Supermodel Naomi Campbell acknowledged shortcomings in her role as a trustee of the Fashion for Relief charity, which she founded, media reports said on Friday (UK time).
Campbell, however, insisted she had not engaged in any financial misconduct or misused the charity for personal gain during its operation, the reports said.
Not model behaviour: Naomi Campbell at a Fashion For Relief event in Cannes in 2018.Credit: AP
Fashion for Relief did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment and Campbell, 54, could not be contacted late on Friday in London.
The model “acknowledges and accepts her accountability” as a Fashion for Relief trustee, Campbell’s spokesperson told The Guardian.
Campbell “may not have been as actively engaged in the charity’s day-to-day operations as she should have been”, the spokesperson told The Guardian, but said the model had “never engaged in any form of financial misconduct”.
Last month, Campbell was banned from being a charity trustee for five years after an inquiry found that funds raised for good causes were used for spa treatments and cigarettes.
Campbell, pictured in New York in 2018, has been banned from being a charity trustee for five years.Credit: AP
“Naomi has never received payment for her involvement with Fashion for Relief, nor has she billed any personal expenses to the organisation,” The Guardian reported citing a statement issued on the model’s behalf on Friday.
Campbell founded Fashion For Relief in 2005, aiming to raise funds for humanitarian causes by staging runway shows, but the charity was removed from Britain’s list of charities this year.
An inquiry published into the organisation by the Charity Commission found multiple instances of misconduct and mismanagement, and the commission said it was banning Campbell and two others from trusteeship as a result.
The regulator found that between 2016 and 2022, only 8.5 per cent of Fashion for Relief’s expenditure was directed towards charitable grants.
Unauthorised payments of £290,000 ($557,000) were made to one of the trustees, while money was also spent on room service, spa treatments and cigarettes.
Reuters
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