Top ageny Storm SouthAfrica closed!

Posted by mija on Jun 13, 2006 in Exclusive, Insider | 0 comments

A brutal international cat fight has crushed one of South Africa’s top model agencies, leaving scores of models unpaid and its director “heartbroken”.
The spat between Storm UK and Storm SA ended this week with a “divorce settlement” and the liquidation of the Cape Town-based modelling company. Storm SA had represented up to 600 models, photographers and performers around the country, including Christina Storm and Miss South Africa runner-up Tammy-Anne Fortuin.
Now the driving force behind Storm SA, former managing director Michelle Mackintosh, has packed away her stilettos and plans to raise her three children at the family’s home in Hout Bay.
“My wife cries every night. She really tried her damnedest. She’s got nothing,” said Archar Head, Mackintosh’s husband and the former head of a division at Storm SA.
“Some models are owed money. I will hopefully pay them off over the next season,” said Head, who claims to have lost over R1-million in commissions himself.
Storm UK applied to have Storm SA liquidated in the Cape High Court in February, following a damning forensic investigation.
The report, by the KPMG Forensic Unit, alleged, among other things, that Storm SA owed R7-million to the taxman and had failed to produce financial statements for years.