SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Coco Berthmann, who raised over $9,000 through a GoFundMe campaign by falsely claiming she had been diagnosed with cancer, was booked into Salt Lake County Metro Jail on Monday. Berthmann, a well-known human trafficking advocate, pleaded guilty to fraud related to the fundraiser.
According to online records from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Berthmann was taken into custody in Utah, though further details about the circumstances of her detainment remain unclear.
Berthmann first gained a significant social media following by claiming she was a victim of human trafficking. She alleged that her family in Germany trafficked her and that she ran away from home at age 15. However, a 2022 probable cause affidavit revealed that investigators found no evidence supporting Berthmann’s claims. The affidavit stated that she had not been sold into slavery, subjected to child sex trafficking, nor witnessed the murder of her sister as she had asserted.
In January 2022, Berthmann enlisted another individual to create a GoFundMe page on her behalf, claiming she had been diagnosed with Mantle Cell Lymphoma, a rare form of cancer. The page raised over $9,000 from donors who believed her story. Following her guilty plea to fraud charges, Berthmann was ordered to repay the funds.
Investigators reported that they were unable to locate any medical records verifying her cancer diagnosis.
Despite the controversy, Berthmann had previously been recognized in human trafficking advocacy circles, including speaking at the Malouf Foundation’s inaugural Human Trafficking Policy and Education Summit in Logan, Utah, in 2021.
ICE did not provide a comment when contacted regarding Berthmann’s recent detainment.