Belle Gibson handed first punishment for fake cancer claims

Fake wellness blogger Belle Gibson must pay $30,000 in court costs within 60 days or risk being jailed.

A Federal Court judge also said that Gibson, who was found guilty last month of making deceptive and misleading representations over her claims to have cured herself of cancer using natural products, must not claim she was diagnosed with brain cancer before May 24 last year, when legal proceedings began.

The punishments, reported by news outlets late this afternoon, were the first to be handed down since last month’s judgment on a case brought by the Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV).

The Daily Telegraph reported that the cancer faker could also face a big fine, when a penalty hearing is held at a later date.

Gibson amassed a huge social media following with her claims that she was diagnosed with brain cancer and given just months to live, but caused her cancer to miraculously disappear after taking up a healthy diet and alternative therapies. Her fame won her a book contract with Penguin, but the book The Whole Pantry was pulped and an accompanying app scrapped after it emerged that her claims were false.

The federal court upheld most of CAV’s claims, but not that Gibson was guilty of “acting unconscionably” because, the judge said last month, she it was possibly the blogger may have had psychological or psychiatric issues that caused her to be delusional when she faked her cancer claims.

Have you been following this case? Were you a fan of Belle Gibson’s?