Wellness Blogger Belle Gibson Found Guilty of Lying About Cancer

The story of disgraced 25-year-old blogger Belle Gibson may have come to an end Wednesday—nearly two years after she was first caught faking cancer to build a wellness empire. Gibson was found guilty by a Melbourne court of engaging in "misleading and deceptive conduct in trade and commerce" after publicly claiming she'd healed herself of terminal brain cancer—among other illnesses—using only "clean eating" and a healthy lifestyle. No evidence was ever found of Gibson's claimed cancers.

The verdict marks the end of a two-year-long investigation by Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV), looking into whether the mother of two had promoted her  Whole Pantry cookbook and app by lying about "her diagnosis with terminal brain cancer, her rejection of conventional cancer treatments in favour of natural remedies, and the donation of proceeds to various charities." The final accusation relates to Gibson's claim she'd donated more than $300,000 to charities—none of which ever eventuated.

In court Wednesday, Justice Debra Mortimer found Gibson—who hasn't shown up in court throughout the trial—guilty of "most but not all" of the allegations levelled by CAV in a civil case launched against Gibson and her company, Inkerman Road Nominees, back in June 2016.

The publisher of Gibson's cookbook, Penguin Australia, could also find itself in hot water after the verdict. In September 2016, a video presented during Gibson's trial revealed publicists from Penguin had readied the blogger for run-ins with the media. "Because you are a success story of the moment, you are one of Australia's great success stories of the moment, you know what journalists do, they want to start scratch, scratch, scratching away," a Penguin representative can be heard saying in the video. When Gibson says they already are, the woman replies, "And we're concerned about that."

Last year, Penguin Australia agreed to donate $30,000 to the Victorian Consumer Law Fund, as restitution for not fact-checking Gibson's claims that she suffered from an inoperable brain tumour, three heart operations, two cardiac arrests, a stroke, and died twice on the operating table—all in 2009.

Belle Gibson will be sentenced at a later date.