A modelling agency that recently lost its contract to sponsor the Crusaders" dancers has broken a promise to some of its models. Runway Model Management Ltd, based in Christchurch, owes several models about $10,000 for work they did about six months ago. The company"s sole director, Marie Rea, had given assurances they would be paid by the end of last year, but that has not happened. On Tuesday, Rea, a pastor who claims she can cure cancer through prayer, said she had not received a loan from a finance company as expected. She apologised for the delay and said she hoped to be able to pay the models within the next two months once she had secured funding from a new investor. It is a story the models who are owed money have heard several times. "It"s awful. I"m so sick of hearing it," a teenager, who would not be named, said. Runway, which is helping teenagers secure lucrative international modelling contracts, was set to sponsor the Crusaders" dance group, the Maidens, for 2016. But that contract was terminated last month after a Stuff investigation revealed the agency was struggling financially and owed models money.
