Fake cancer sufferer Belle Gibson ordered to pay $30,000 in court costs

Disgraced health personality Belle Gibson has to pay $30,000 towards the legal costs of Consumer Affairs Victoria and has been banned from making deceptive claims about her health in connection with wellbeing advice.

Federal Court Justice Debra Mortimer on Friday made the orders against Annabelle Natalie Gibson, the businesswoman who claimed she had brain cancer and healed herself with natural remedies.

The judge said Gibson is prohibited from claiming, in connection with the development and promotion and sale of her wellness advice:

• that she had been diagnosed with brain cancer at any time before May 24, 2016
• that she was given four months to live
• that she had taken and then rejected conventional cancer treatments in favour of embarking on a quest to heal herself naturally

Consumer Affairs Victoria took Gibson to court last year alleging she had lied about a 2009 brain cancer diagnosis and subsequent recovery.

It was also alleged that she had lied to consumers about donating to charities from the sales of her Whole Pantry app.

Justice Mortimer last month found the allegations against Gibson to be mostly true, saying she had "played on the genuine desire of members of the Australian community to help those less fortunate".

An excerpt from Gibson's Whole Pantry Book describes her journey from being told she had four months to live, to finding out she was pregnant, to rejecting medical intervention and travelling the country in search of non-medical advice.

If Gibson refuses to obey Friday's court order, she will be liable for imprisonment, sequestration of property or other punishment, the court documents said.

She has been absent from court since the case began and has not defended herself through lawyers.

AAP