Earlier today the actress Mia Farrow disputed Naomi Campbell's claim that she was not sure she had received blood diamonds from former Liberian president Charles Taylor. Now Campbell's former agent also has presented a different version of events than the model's.
Taylor stands accused of arming and training brutal rebels in exchange for diamonds during Sierra Leone's civil war. He denies handling the gems—something that may be refuted if it is revealed definitively that he gave a pouch of unpolished gems to Campbell.
The supermodel says she was given stones but is not sure from whom they came. Her former agent, Carole White, disagrees. She said that during a dinner party in South Africa in 1997 to honor Nelson Mandela, Taylor and Campbell had flirted, and Taylor promised to send men to give her diamonds.
"We were sitting around this lounge area at about 10 o'clock at night and we were waiting for these men to arrive," White said, according to the BBC. "She was in communication with them by phone—most likely by text. Someone was informing her that the car was nearly there." Campbell was very excited about the delivery, said White.
"The guys came in and they sat down in the lounge and we sat opposite them ... They then took out a quite scruffy paper and they handed it to Miss Campbell and said, 'These are the diamonds,' " she said. "She opened them and showed them to me. They were quite disappointing because they weren't shiny."
The case became even more surreal when White was herself questioned about a party she had on the night Cambell testified—it was advertised on Facebook as a "Blood Diamond Party." White denied the title.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
