CENTRE stage at the fundraising gala for her anti-poverty charity, supermodel Naomi Campbell strutted down the catwalk to applause from the great and the good.
Among the beautiful people at the Fashion For Relief event in Cannes were Nicolas Sarkozy’s singer wife Carla Bruni, socialite Paris Hilton plus fellow cat- walk stars Bella Hadid, Erin O’Connor and Natalia Vodianova.
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The glitzy bash in May 2018 — which included a cocktail reception, gala dinner and arts auction — was thrown to raise cash for #Time’sUp, a charity seeking to end sexual harassment and gender discrimination in workplaces.
But not all of the money would end up helping good causes.
Back at her five-star hotel in the chic French Riviera resort, Campbell had been busy racking up huge bills that were settled by FFR, for which she was a trustee.
The 54-year-old model had spent around £6,600 on spa treatments, room service, unnamed “hotel products” and even cigarettes.
Other expenses billed to FFR included £7,800 for three nights’ accommodation for Campbell in a junior suite at the resort, which was holding its famous film festival at the time of the model’s visit.
She had also charged the charity £3,300 for security for the three days of the event, during which she attended a press conference.
The poverty relief charity also picked up the £12,300 bill to fly an unnamed trustee and a donor from London to Nice on May 11, 2018.
The organisation explained that the flight had been booked to ferry art and jewellery worth more than £1.25million to the Cannes bash.
Little wonder then that charity watchdogs this week told Campbell: enough is enough.
On Thursday the Charity Commission barred her from being a charity trustee in England and Wales for five years after it found “multiple instances of misconduct and/or mismanagement” at FFR.
And, after a three-year investigation, it revealed the organisation had given just 8.5 per cent of its overall expenditure to good causes in a six-year period from 2016.
Of Campbell’s enormous bill for her Cannes hotel stay, the watchdog pointed out that accommodation secured for the charity’s “other trustees and volunteers on this trip was significantly less costly”.
The inquiry also found that not all of Campbell’s expenses were “reasonable”.
It was likely an excruciating moment for the model, who was once heralded with a headline in Elle magazine trumpeting: “Naomi Campbell Is Saving The World One Fashion Show At A Time”.
A trailblazer for black women in the fashion industry, she had been inspired to set up the charity by her late friend Nelson Mandela.
Volunteers’ rooms were ‘significantly less costly’
Confronted with the Charity Commission’s findings on Thursday evening, Campbell insisted she was “extremely concerned”.
She added: “As I was not in control of my charity, I put control in the hands of a lawyer.
“So we are investigating to find out what and how, as everything I do and every penny I ever raised goes towards charities.”
Looking glamorous in a floor-length black and white dress with diamante buttons, she was in Paris to accept the Insignia of Knight Of The Order of Arts And Letters from the French Ministry of Culture.
She wept during her acceptance speech as she thanked her family for their “unwavering” support.
On the other side of the Channel, the Charity Commission had just concluded its damning investigation.
For a women who launched the charity with such lofty ideals in January 2005, it must have come as a hammer blow.
She revealed at the time that anti-apartheid hero Mandela had told her to “use her voice” for good.
FFR’s website says it is “dedicated to improving the lives of those living in adversity”.
Naomi had been in the spotlight since she appeared on the cover of Elle in 1986 — just before turning 16.
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Born in Lambeth, South London, she would go on to become a catwalk fixture and the first black model to appear on the front covers of Time and Vogue.
But with fame came other pressures. In 1999 she went to rehab for cocaine and alcohol addiction.
In 2007 she threw a BlackBerry phone at her ex-housekeeper and was sentenced to community service.
And in 2010 she appeared in the Hague to give evidence in the war crimes trial of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who had allegedly given her uncut “blood diamonds” in 1997.
She said she had no idea what the stones were and gave them away.
Campbell founded FFR alongside fellow trustees, socialite and lawyer Bianka Hellmich and textile heiress Veronica Chou.
Its constitution set out its laudable missions which included relieving poverty and sickness across the globe.
There was also emphasis on health advancement and “the reduction of maternal and new-born mortality rates in the developing and developed world”.
Campbell raised cash by throwing glitzy fundraising galas across the globe, including events in New York, Mumbai and Moscow.
She would appear in show-stopping designer gowns, surrounded by celebs and models.
‘Remaining amount would benefit children’
The charity claimed to have raised more than £11million, and in 2019 Campbell was honoured by the British Fashion Council for her philanthropic work.
She proudly wrote on her charity’s website: “We have provided relief for disasters such as the Haiti earthquake, Hurricane Katrina, the Japanese earthquake and subsequent tsunami.”
But in May 2021 concerns arose about the charity’s finances after newspapers scrutinised its accounts.
It emerged that FFR had spent £1.6million on a fundraising gala in Cannes — but gave only £5,000 to good causes over the same period.
It was during her stay in the South of France for the spectacular event that Campbell spent thousands of the charity’s money.
At the time FFR insisted it operated as a “third party”, helping to funnel funds between donors and the good causes it championed.
It claimed the published accounts should not be viewed alone and subsequent filings would provide a clearer picture.
By November 2021 the Charity Commission was combing through FFR’s paperwork.
A month later, it emerged that the Mayor’s Fund For London had lodged an official complaint with the regulator, saying that it was owed £50,000 by Campbell’s charity.
FFR had partnered with the charitable fund on a glamorous red-carpet fashion show at the British Museum in September 2019.
The Mayor’s Fund received a donation of £100,000 from the event.
Then in November 2019 the two organisations partnered again on a pop-up store at West London’s Westfield Shopping Centre, selling designer fashion items.
But FFR did not make a promised £50,000 donation and the Mayor’s Fund reported the organisation to the Charity Commission.
The fund’s chief executive Kirsty McHugh said at the time: “We would very much welcome receiving the remaining amount in order to benefit children and young people across the capital.”
The inquiry revealed that FFR interim managers appointed by the Charity Commission paid the Mayor’s Fund £50,000 in 2023.
Then in April this year — with the charity watchdog’s investigation still progressing — it emerged that FFR had been shut down.
A spokesman for the charity said: “The winding-up of FFR was a decision made by trustees three years ago. It was not forcibly closed.”
This week FFR trustees Hellmich and Chou were disqualified from being UK charity trustees for nine and four years respectively.
While Campbell may still wish to save the world one fashion show at a time, it won’t — for half a decade, at least — be as a charity trustee in England or Wales.
