‘Makes me sick’: Con-woman’s brother speaks
The brother of a notorious conwoman has opened up in a rare TV interview, giving insight into their fractured relationship.
Belle Gibson, 32, scammed almost half-a-million dollars off victims by falsely claiming to have healed her inoperable brain tumour through diet and alternative treatments.
She was convicted in 2017 of engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct and fined $410,000 for breaching consumer laws.
In a tell-all interview with 60 Minutes airing this Sunday, her brother Nick Gibson, 35, has shared that he feels “sick to [his] gut” about her behaviour.
He is also expected to share rare insights into what it was like growing up with his younger sister who he said “lied a lot”.
“It’s embarrassing. When she was in her teens she lied a lot,” he told 60 Minutes.
Seven years after her conviction, Ms Gibson has yet to pay back the thousands of dollars the court ordered her to pay.
“Belle’s never going to pay back that money,” her brother said.
Ms Gibson’s story inspired an upcoming Netflix drama, Apple Cider Vinegar and was the subject of a British ITV two-part documentary, Instagram’s Worst Con Artist.
Her wellness empire The Whole Pantry earned her $420,000 from the sales of her cookbook and app under the same name.
It wasn’t until she promised to donate thousands of dollars to charity that her lies started to unravel.
In March 2015, Fairfax Media grew suspicious of her claims and their investigations uncovered that the charities she had named did not received a cent.
The following month she admitted to Australia Women’s Weekly that she did not have cancer.
