Aussie wellness influencer Bianca Cheah has been arrested at Sydney Airport and charged with fraud after investors in her and her ex-husband Simon Chalmer‘s business Sporteluxe alleged they’d been scammed out of more than $1 million.
Chalmers, who’s originally from the US, was the owner of the Beach Haus nightclub in King’s Cross (aka the place where Leonardo DiCaprio once had his bday party) while Cheah modelled for IMG and amassed over 1.2 million Facebook followers as a wellness influencer.
In 2018, Sporteluxe investors brought a civil action against Cheah and Chalmers, alleging that the couple had fabricated elements of the company’s revenue. Bianca Cheah had been allegedly transferring money from her modelling income into the company’s account.
Then, the NSW Supreme Court ruled that the couple had broken Aussie consumer law and given investors “misleading financial information”. In late November 2019, NSW Police began investigating the couple, who’d been based in LA since 2016.
Chalmers and Cheah broke up in 2020 and in 2021, Cheah was declared bankrupt in Australia after the couple failed to pay back the more than $1million buckerinos they’d been ordered to return to investors.
On Friday, Cheah flew from LA into Sydney airport, where she was stopped by Australian Border Force and then arrested by NSW Police.
According to the Daily Telegraph, Bianca Cheah is believed to have known that authorities would be waiting for her in Sydney.
Hopefully she at least got to binge watch the new Marvel movies on the plane.
Her most recent Insta post, which was shared on December 22, claimed she’d been having time off of socials to spend time with her son Oliver.
“Why am I not posting on Instagram as much? To answer your question…at this time in my life, I’ve just chosen to be more present with my darling Olly,” she wrote.
“I know this is a finite period in my life and I am choosing to embrace it. I am choosing to find joy in my motherhood journey. I know my little Oliver needs me now in a way he won’t ever again.”
Before that she hadn’t posted on Instagram since October and she hasn’t posted on FB since August 2020 though, tbh, the Facebook post is a dying art.
Her website Amodrn, a self-described “Modern Lifestyle Destination Rooted in Wellness and Expert-Driven Content” is still active though.
Bianca Cheah has been granted conditional bail and will appear at Manly Local Court in Feb 2022.
