Pete Evans fined $80,000 by health department for alleged unlawful spruiking of devices and medicines

The celebrity chef turned conspiracy theorist Pete Evans has again been fined for promoting an array of devices and drugs as miracle cures for ailments including the coronavirus.

The former Seven Network star was on Tuesday hit with $79,920 in fines for breaching advertising requirements.

It comes after his company was fined more than $25,000 by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in April 2020 after he promoted a device called a “BioCharger” on a Facebook live stream, claiming it could be used to cure the coronavirus.

Evans was at the time warned about his promotion of other products. On Tuesday, he was fined again by the TGA, part of the federal health department, for allegedly spruiking the BioCharger and several other treatments not included on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods.

He allegedly unlawfully advertised two oral medicines, static magnet products and hyperbaric chambers for oxygen therapy – which involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurised environment.

In some cases, Evans implied the products he was advertising were endorsed by health professionals, the TGA said in a statement.

He has been ordered to remove the posts and to stop advertising unapproved products and therapies.

The former reality TV star has previously been permanently booted off Facebook and Instagram for sharing misinformation and conspiracy theories.

He has repeatedly made posts opposing Covid-19 vaccines and masks and claimed in a podcast that the coronavirus was a hoax.

In November 2020, Evans was fired by Channel Ten on the day he was due to start filming I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! after his publisher and multiple brands abandoned him for posting a cartoon that included a neo-Nazi symbol on his social media accounts.

Evans subsequently apologised to people who “misinterpreted” the cartoon.

Evans was a judge on My Kitchen Rules between 2010 and 2020 and had more than a million Facebook followers.