Cancer faker Belle Gibson reveals she’s fallen on hard times and can’t afford court fine

Belle Gibson, the infamous cancer faker, has made a new plea after coming under hardship.

Belle Gibson, the woman convicted of fraudulently claiming to have cured her cancer with alternative therapies, has not paid her $410,000 fine.

Despite efforts to stay out of the public eye, the 32-year-old was located living in Melbourne’s northern suburbs and chased down by A Current Affair on Monday night.

Ms Gibson claims she is unable to pay the fine due to financial difficulties and an inability to find employment following her public controversy.

Gibson falsely claimed to have healed her inoperable brain tumour through diet and alternative treatments, profiting from a wellness app and cookbook.

Belle Gibson, the woman convicted of fraudulently claiming to have cured her cancer with alternative therapies, has not paid her $410,000 fine.

Gibson falsely claimed to have healed her inoperable brain tumour through diet and alternative treatments, profiting from a wellness app and cookbook.

In 2017 the Federal Court of Australia found the mum of one engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct and fined her almost half a million dollars for breaching consumer laws.

But six years after the court ruling, Consumer Affairs Victoria has yet to receive the fine payment from Gibson.

“I haven’t paid things because I can’t afford to,” she said.

“I can’t get into the workplace.”

Ms Gibson pleaded for “humanity” after being questioned over the unpaid fine.

Lawyer Justin Lawrence suggested that if Gibson is not bankrupt, pursuing bankruptcy could be her only viable option.

Mr Lawrence compared Gibson’s fraud to theft and said if her actions had involved direct theft, she would likely have been jailed.

“If she’s not bankrupt then at the very least bankruptcy is something that can be pursued to really make a statement as much as anything that the community won’t tolerate this,” he said.

“If she had gone into a bank account and taken the money out and been charged with theft then she would be in jail.”

Last year, a former friend of Ms Gibson lashed the cancer conwoman, describing her actions as “diabolical”, “elaborate” and motivated by “greed and fame”.

In the wake of the Netflix documentary, “The Belle Gibson story”, former friend Chanelle McAuliffe told Sunrise she didn’t believe “justice was really served for the victims and the charities that were targeted”.

“While Belle’s scam was quite unique, scams are not unique and they are quite widespread and systemic,” she said.

Ms McAuliffe described Gibson as “quite strategic”and her actions “diabolical” and “elaborate”.

“She was driven by power and greed and fame and I think if someone is motivated on those fronts they are willing to go to great lengths to achieve those things,” she said.

McAuliffe revealed the new documentary featured a cancer victim who contemplated halting conventional medicine because of Gibson’s misguided advice.

“Did people die because of Belle?,” she asked.

“The misinformation that Belle was spreading was really dangerous. she was targeting people with a terminal illness to not take conventional treatment, to drink green juice and bake gluten free cookies.”

Gibson earned almost half a million dollars from her app and book advance, but her charity donations totalled just under $6000.

Originally published as Cancer faker Belle Gibson reveals she’s fallen on hard times and can’t afford court fine