Naomi Campbell used her NGO funds to pay for luxury hotels

Naomi Campbell, the iconic supermodel of the 90s, has been expelled from the board of directors of the charity Fashion For Relief, the non-profit she had been a spokesperson for several years. The matter, reported a couple of years ago, was concluded today with the intervention of the Charity Commission, the independent body that oversees the activities of NGOs in the United Kingdom. The Commission confirmed the misappropriation of resources by the organization and the failure to allocate part of the donations to the declared charitable purposes. According to the investigation, it emerged that a large portion of the funds raised was not assigned to philanthropic purposes: the collected information indicates that the charity would have spent millions of pounds on luxury hotels, spa treatments, cigarettes, and personal security for the model. Campbell is not the only one accused: other millions would have been pocketed through unauthorized payments by other trustees. As a result, the supermodel has been banned from any charitable role in the United Kingdom for five years.

Campbell, however, was not the only one responsible. Bianka Hellmich, her fellow trustee, allegedly received £290,000 ($387,000) in unauthorized payments for consultancy and personal expenses over two years. For this reason, she was disqualified from the role of charity trustee for nine years. A third trustee, Veronica Chou, was banned for four years. The inquiry report revealed disastrous financial management and chaotic record-keeping within the organization, which was finally closed in March. «Trustees are legally required to make decisions in the best interest of their charity and to adhere to their duties and legal responsibilities. Our inquiry found that the trustees of this charity failed to meet those obligations, leading to our decision to disqualify them,» said Tim Hopkins, assistant director for specialist investigations and standards at the Charity Commission. The supermodel stated to AP News that «she is absolutely devastated by the findings», and that they have started an internal investigation, emphasizing that she was not in control of Fashion For Relief, having given executive power to a lawyer.