Fashion for Relief held a catwalk show and auction at the British Museum in 2019, which it said would raise money for Unicef and the Mayor’s Fund for London.
But in a statement, Unicef UK said: “We have never held any official partnership with Fashion for Relief and we have never received any funds from the 2019 event.”
The Guardian, external, which first reported the news, said there were also questions about why the model was billed as a Unicef “envoy” at an official meeting in 2018 with then-foreign secretary Boris Johnson.
Unicef said: “Naomi Campbell has never held an official role or title with Unicef or Unicef UK and we are in touch with the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] to understand what happened.”
Unicef added that an official ambassadorial role “comes after many years of commitment and support to Unicef”.
The charity said it takes fundraising compliance “very seriously”, and reported Fashion for Relief to the Charity Commission “as per our statutory requirements”.
A Charity Commission spokesperson said Unicef’s report “was considered, alongside wider evidence and information as part of our statutory inquiry into Fashion for Relief”.
That inquiry, which published its findings last week, focused on complaints from the Mayor’s Fund for London and the Save the Children Fund, which said they were owed money from Fashion for Relief events.
The inquiry found Fashion for Relief was not passing on as much money as it was supposed to. Instead, funds were spent on hotels, security and cigarettes for Campbell, and other unauthorised payments to one of her fellow charity trustees.
Fashion for Relief has been removed from the register of charities as a result, and Campbell has been banned from charity involvement for five years.
