Disgraced health guru Belle Gibson fined $410,000 for fake cancer claims
Disgraced health personality Belle Gibson has been fined $410,000 by the Federal Court for misleading consumers.
Gibson claimed she had brain cancer, healed herself with natural remedies and lied to consumers about donating to charities from the sales of her Whole Pantry app.
In the Federal Court in Melbourne on Thursday, Justice Debbie Mortimer ordered Ms Gibson to pay a total of $410,000 for five contraventions of Australian consumer law relating to false claims she made that money from the sales would go to various charities.
The action was brought by the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria.
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Justice Mortimer said Ms Gibson profited from her false statements about donating substantial sums of the proceeds of her sales of The Whole Pantry app and book over a year.
During that time, she repeatedly made the claims while building a high public profile, and used those claims to help shape her profile.
"One of the clear demonstrations of the dishonesty and self-interest attending Ms Gibson's conduct was the fact she and the company she controlled did not in fact make any donations to the organisations she had mentioned in her publicity statements until public questioning of her claims," Justice Mortimer said.
The judge said Gibson had been "cavalier about the truth", unconcerned about representations she had made and "prepared to tell outright lies".
She had been put on notice during a media training interview with publisher Penguin in 2014 that there there were likely to be real questions about her charitable giving, but during and after "she chose to perpetuate the fantasy and deception she created".
Gibson sought to use the terminal illness of a young boy for her own selfish purposes to garner sympathy for her own asserted brain cancer, her commercial causes and products, in what the judge labelled "unconscionable".
Justice Mortimer said Gibson's failure to attend any of the court hearings showed she did not take any responsibility for her conduct.
"Once again, it appears she has put her own interests before those of anyone else," she said.
"If there is one theme or pattern which emerges through her conduct, it is her relentless obsession with herself and what best serves her interests."
