A BRITISH man has been charged in France with offences including money laundering and identity theft after allegedly organising a staged wedding ceremony at Disneyland Paris, where he acted as the groom and a nine-year-old girl played the bride, French prosecutors said on Tuesday.
He is suspected of renting the park before its public opening on Saturday for the private event, under a contract valued at 130,000 euros.
The man, who has not been named, has a criminal record in the UK for sexual assault offences. In addition to the formal charges, he has also been designated an assisted witness in a separate investigation into suspected corruption of a minor, prosecutors said.
The incident initially raised concerns among Disneyland staff, who alerted police out of fear that the event involved an illegal child marriage. The supposed bride was a nine-year-old Ukrainian girl.
Authorities later determined that the ceremony was staged, but they launched an investigation immediately after the alert.
Jean-Baptiste Bladier, the prosecutor for the Meaux region, told AFP the British man had "played the role of the groom after being professionally made up to display a face completely different from his own."
According to the prosecutor, British authorities confirmed that the man "has been convicted in the past, notably for sexual offences against minors." He is also wanted in the UK for failing to comply with his obligations as a registered sex offender.
'Significant irregularities'
A 24-year-old Latvian woman who acted as the bride’s sister during the event has also been designated an assisted witness.
The prosecutor said the investigation revealed that the ceremony was "a fictitious ceremony intended to be filmed privately".
The British man is believed to have "recruited, with the help of a Latvian citizen, other Latvian nationals to ensure the smooth running of the event, as well as around 100 French extras, who were falsely presented to Disneyland Paris as wedding guests", the prosecutor said.
The Ukrainian girl, who arrived in France two days before the event, was not harmed, the prosecutor said over the weekend. "No violence, either physical or sexual," occurred, and "she was not forced to play the role" of bride, he added.
The prosecutor said Disneyland Paris was misled when "the organiser impersonated a Latvian national and used false documents to secure the contract to hire the park".
The event was scheduled to take place from 5:00 am to 7:00 am local time, before public opening hours, on a privatised part of the park, "at a total cost of 130,000 euros", according to a police source who did not want to be named.
Disneyland Paris said in a statement sent to AFP on Sunday that the event had been "immediately cancelled" by its staff "after the identification of significant irregularities".
(With inputs from agencies)
Flag hoisting ceremony