Fake Melbourne marriage celebrant sentenced for performing five ‘weddings’

The 31-year-old pretended to be an authorised celebrant while he defrauded five couples of between $700 to $1000 each for marriage services performed between March 2022 and April 2023.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said the fake celebrant illegally solemnised the marriages of five couples in Victoria on their respective wedding days during the same period. 

The fifth couple reported the man to the AFP after they were unable to find his name on the register of authorised celebrants.

Police arrested the man in February after they confirmed with the Attorney-General’s department that he was not an authorised marriage celebrant registered under the Commonwealth.

The man faced the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court on Monday, where he pled guilty to four counts of solemnisation of a marriage by an unauthorised person and one count of impersonation of public official.

The court handed the man a six-month community corrections order with a single condition of performing 50 hours’ of community work.

AFP detective superintendent Donna Tankard said the case had serious repercussions for the couples who were married under deceptive circumstances. 

“Impersonating an authorised and registered marriage celebrant in Australia is an extremely deceitful act and this could have had serious financial, religious, and legal consequences for the couples who were victims of this deception,” Tankard said.

“The AFP has a zero-tolerance approach to individuals committing fraud, and other forms of corruption.

“The AFP will continue to work with its state and Commonwealth law enforcement partners to proactively target, identify, and disrupt fraudsters who are attempting to exploit and profit from members of the community.”