SYDNEY, Feb 13, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Australia says it is still chasing a 2017 fine imposed on a wellness blogger who faked her brain cancer and supposed natural therapy cure, a story loosely recounted in Netflix series Apple Cider Vinegar.

Melbourne's federal court fined Belle Gibson Aus$410,000 (US$258,000) at the time for misleading and deceptive conduct after she launched a cookbook and smartphone app falsely asserting she had overcome her cancer with holistic medicine and a gluten-free diet.

More than seven years later, the state of Victoria is still waiting for the Australian to pay up.

"Behind the TV stories, behind the dramatisation, are real people who have had their lives devastated by the actions of this individual," Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan told reporters.

"There are fines outstanding and Consumer Affairs Victoria is pursuing this constantly and consistently, and won't let up," she said.

Gibson confessed to an Australian magazine in 2015 that she had lied about the brain cancer diagnosis. It also emerged that she failed to make donations she had publicly pledged to charity.