Fraudster fronts court for duping loved-up couples

A crook deceived couples planning their special day and obtained more than $100,000 in wedding deposits while working at a Victorian winery.

Gambler Maroun Al-Asmar deceived wedding couples into depositing more than $100,000 into his account to prepare for their special day at the All Saints Estate.

A dodgy employee at a Victorian winery who stole more than $100,000 in wedding deposits from loved-up couples has avoided jail

Instead, the County Court on Friday sentenced Maroun El-Asmar to a 30 month community corrections order following his guilty pleas to 13 charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception.

The Lebanon-born hospitality worker blew some of the $106,797 from his ill-gotten gains at the Crown and was arrested while attempting to leave Australia at Melbourne Airport.

El-Asmar committed the fraud over a two-week period in July and August 2022 while working at All Saints Estate near Corowa on the Victorian border.

The wedding couples were deceived into believing their deposits were going into the Estate’s

account.

All Saints Estate where Maroun El-Asmar was working when he duped couples and fraudulently obtained a six-figure sum from them.

Instead, money was being channelled into El-Asmar’s Bendigo Bank account.

The estate honoured the payments to the victims even though it was not aware of El-Asmar’s fraud and did not receive any of the fraudulently obtained funds.

Records show that between August 5 and 17, 2022 El-Asmar withdrew $12,255 from ATMs at Crown and between June and August, he transferred $27,355 into Playup, interactive and Australia sports racing and betting company.

Crown Casino records show his loyalty member was used between August 5 and 8 and recorded a loss of $25,789 and a further loss of $8644 a week later.

On Aug 27, 2022 he was arrested by the Australian Federal Police while attempting to leave the country at Melbourne Airport and was brought to the Broadmeadows police station for questioning.

El-Asmar told the court he had a serious gambling disorder and hid his crime from family and friends.

Following his arrest, he said he began living a life of seclusion in Alexandra and sought help from Gamblers Anonymous Australia.