Consumer Affairs Victoria, Australia, and possibly Victoria Police are said to be investigating Belle Gibson, the creator of popular iOS, and Apple Watch default app The Whole Pantry. Authorities are looking into allegations of charity fraud, and that she deceived the public by faking stories about having cancer for financial gain.

Gibson, 28, built the app based on her personal blog, where she told a story that she had survived a terminal brain tumor when she was younger through healthy living. Through the blog and the app, Gibson claims to have helped countless people dump conventional medicine to treat illnesses including cancer.

The app became a decent success, with over 300,000 downloads on Apple’s app store (notably there’s only a paid version), and it was voted the best food and drink app of 2013.

Gibson’s success with the app led to a book deal with Penguin Books Ltd., along with widespread publicity, particularly in Australia, where she became a popular speaker on health issues.

But the best lies often come undone when you add to them, with Gibson claiming in 2014 that she was now suffering cancer of the liver, uterus, spleen and blood; in an interview Monday Gibson now claims that she had been “misdiagnosed.”

Gibson maintained that she had previously beaten terminal brain tumor, but that story appears to be full of holes as well; various reports quote former friends stating that in 2009, during the time she claims to have been told she had 4 months to live, she was never ill. Doctor’s also note rightly that you can’t cure terminal cancer through healthy living and lifestyle.

Charity fraud

Reports of Gibson’s fake cancer stories are only one of Gibson’s problems as a now disgraced publisher, with Fairfax Media reporting that Gibson had not forwarded on money earned at two charity fundraising events in 2013 and 2014, which promised money to five different charities.

Further, Gibson had publicly claimed that 25 percent of her company’s profits are given to charity, and in her book claimed that “a large part of everything” earned is donated to various causes. She further went on to state that her company had already given $300,000 away; it turns out not one cent was ever given to any charity in any form.

Gibson now claims that this is due to “cash flow problems,” although an alleged spokesperson for the company itself (ironically called Belle Gibson Pty. Ltd….we think it’s likely Gibson pretending to be someone else) says the blame lies with bookkeeping issues due to the company being a startup.

Gibson could be facing multiple charges; organizations found to misrepresent fundraising events could be in breach of criminal and consumer law. Companies face penalties of up to AU$28,000 (21,300) while individuals risk 12 months’ jail and a AU$14,000 ($10,600) fine for each offense.

A sore Apple can’t ignore

Given Apple’s late co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs subscribed to the same rubbish claims that somehow you can ignore mainstream medicine and cure cancer through a holistic diet and lifestyle changes, it’s hardly surprising that Apple got into bed with the likes of Belle Gibson.

The app itself doesn’t actually say it’s promising to cure cancer, but it’s founder has certainly said that it includes recipes that help her rid herself of her make believe cancer; whether Apple likes it or not, the app is seriously tainted by the actions of its founder.

The fact it’s going to be a default app on the Apple Watch just makes the association several degrees worse; this isn’t one of a million apps that appear on the the App Store every day, this is a person Apple actually worked with, including her spending time at Apple HQ working with Apple employees to develop the app.

At the very least Apple needs to disown Ms. Gibson, but realistically it needs to drop the app from the Apple Watch if it’s not too late, or drop it with future versions. At the time of writing the story is still developing, and as it gets worse, to the point Gibson could even be jailed, every one of those stories is going to mention her relationship with Apple.

Image credits: Belle Gibson, Twitter/ Apple.