- Australian authorities are still pursuing Belle Gibson for the unpaid fine she owes from 2017.
- Gibson was ordered to pay a fine of A$410,000 after being found to have broken consumer law.
- A new Netflix series tells a fictionalized account of how she lied to followers about having and curing cancer.
Following the release of Netflix’s “Apple Cider Vinegar,” Australian authorities have said that they “won’t let up” on their efforts to recoup hundreds of thousands of dollars in outstanding fines, penalties, and interest from former wellness guru Belle Gibson.
“Apple Cider Vinegar,” which debuted earlier this month, tells a fictionalized version of how Gibson lied to friends, online followers, and major corporations like Apple and publisher Penguin about curing what she said was her terminal brain cancer through healthy eating and alternative therapies.
Gibson, who admitted not having cancer following an investigation into her business by Melbourne newspaper The Age in 2015, was found guilty of five breaches of Australian consumer law in 2017.
Court documents viewed by Business Insider show that an Australian Federal Court judge ordered Gibson to pay a fine of A$410,000 (around $260,000), plus A$30,000 in legal costs at the time.
However, Gibson said in subsequent court appearances that she was unable to pay the money, ABC reported.
Although Gibson’s case appeared to have been marked as finalized and abandoned in 2021, Jacinta Allan, the Premier of the Australian state of Victoria, has confirmed that local authorities are still working to recover the fine.
“Behind the TV stories, behind the dramatisation, are real people who have had their lives devastated by the actions of this individual,” Allan said, per The Guardian. “Consumer Affairs Victoria is continuing to pursue this, particularly in the context of the orders that have been made by the court.”
Allan added that she was “disappointed” the matter still had not been resolved but that Consumer Affairs Victoria “won’t let up.”
The current outstanding balance that Gibson owes has not been disclosed, and the organization did not respond to BI’s request for clarification, which was sent outside regular working hours.
But after officers raided Gibson’s home in Melbourne in 2021, it was reported that the fine amounted to more than A$500,000 (around $317,000), including penalties and interest.
Gibson’s case has been thrust back into the spotlight following the release of the six-part Netflix series, which has been viewed by more than 3.8 million people since its release on February 6, according to the streamer’s own data.
Gibson became a global influencer in the mid-2010s as she amassed more than 200,000 followers on Instagram. She went on to create a nutrition app called “The Whole Pantry” and later a cookbook of the same name.
Following her confession to Australian Women’s Weekly in 2015 that she had falsified her cancer diagnosis, Gibson has mostly kept a low profile, with the exception of her now infamous “60 Minutes Australia” interview.
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