A case brought against Belle Gibson by Consumers Affairs Victoria will proceed without her, after the disgraced so-called wellness blogger failed to appear in the Federal Court.
Ms Gibson built a social media empire around the claim she had survived terminal brain cancer with nutrition and holistic medicine, before admitting she never had the disease.
Victoria’s consumer watchdog launched court action against Ms Gibson last year, saying she falsely claimed she had healed herself naturally when promoting her Whole Pantry app and book.
In outlining its case, Consumer Affairs Victoria told the court she profited from the false claims and failed to donate money to charity as promised.
The court had heard Ms Gibson’s interview with Channel 9’s 60 Minutes program would be used as evidence against her.
The hearing was told medical documents revealed Ms Gibson had no reasonable basis for believing she had cancer.
The Whole Pantry app was available for purchase between August 2013 and May 2016, and had been downloaded more than 115,000 times from iTunes.
The hearing continues.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
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