By : An Australian woman who faked and duped people into buying her products, Belle Gibson, may have used the proceeds of her fraudulent scheme to trade crypto among other assets.
This emerged after she appeared in court over her failure to pay a $285,000 (AUD$410,000) fine, per . The fine was imposed two years ago after Gibson was found guilty of breaching consumer law with her fake claims.
Though the amounts that she used to trade were not revealed, an attorney for Australia’s consumer watchdog Consumer Affairs indicated that the con artist’s financial statements showed ‘a great many transactions overwhelmingly in the nature of discretionary spending’.
BREAKING: Forensic analysts have started pouring over Belle Gibson’s bank statements. They reveal she’s been in crypto currency and using a Sportsbet account. Yet hasnt repaid any of the $410K she owes for pretending she had brain and defrauding people
— Candice Wyatt (@CandiceWyatt10)
Has Cancer Fraudster Been Listening to Warren Buffett or Dr. Doom Talk Crypto?
During the court appearance, Gibson’s lawyers presented documents showing her financial spending. However, this did not include statements on . Prodded further, Gibson sounded like well-known skeptics as she argued that were neither assets nor investments:
I fail to see how crypto-currency is an investment or an asset.
This is a statement that could as well be attributed to legendary investor Warren or economics professor Nouriel Roubini. Recently, a ‘gambling device. A few months ago, Roubini ‘bulls-t’.
From Curing Cancer to Trading Crypto
Gibson’s fraud started a decade ago when she claimed to have been diagnosed with terminal and given four months to live. Despite the grim diagnosis, Gibson survived and she claimed it was all down to alternative . This included special foods, holistic and oxygen , according to .
Alleging she could do the same for others, Gibson launched a health and wellness app, Whole Pantry. She also unveiled a blog and wrote a cookbook while building other income streams in 2013. At one point the Whole Pantry app was the most downloaded on the App Store.
Though the details of the amount she generated from her fraud are unclear, she bought a beachside house as well as a luxury car at the time.
Cancer Fraudster Was to Donate 95% of Proceeds
At the time Bella promised to donate proceeds from book sales and revenues from her app to charities. Per , she only donated $7,000 (AUD$10,000) from the $305,000 (AUD$440,500) that she made from the book and app. This is despite having said she would donate 95 percent of the proceeds. This unfulfilled promise, in addition to the inconsistencies in her story, led to doubts about her truthfulness.
Other than crypto, her extravagance will make it harder it to convince anyone why she can’t pay the fine.
Expensive clothes, overseas trips: Belle Gibson’s expenses in the spotlight
— The Sydney Morning Herald (@smh)
Though it is not clear when she started crypto, if she bought substantial amounts at the bottom last year and is still hodling, the prevailing rally could not have come at a better time.
Published at Tue, 14 May 2019 14:07:40 +0000
