North East winery worker and gambler deceived victims out of cash

Maroun Nadim El-Asmar was caught trying to flee the country from Melbourne Airport on August 27 last year, having defrauded about 14 couples out of $106,797 in a period of just 25 days.

El-Asmar, who was employed at the North East venue as a hospitality manager from June 22 last year, was given free accommodation by the owner.

Known as "Mario", El-Asmar began his deception a month later.

Couples who had booked weddings were given details of an app that was being used by the 42-year-old.

He met the couples at the North East property or got in touch with couples who had previously shown interest in tying the knot at the venue.

Many had dealt with a previous manager.

El-Asmar requested payments through the chat app, deceiving the victims into believing they were paying deposits and other money into the venue's account.

He instead provided his own Bendigo Bank account details.

The individual amounts transferred ranged from $5000 to $20,000.

He resigned from his $85,000 a year job on August 5 and went to Crown Casino the same day.

Crown Casino records show between August 5 and 8 last year, El-Asmar lost $25,789.

He lost $8644 during a four-day period later that month.

He had moved nearly $100,000 from his Bendigo Bank account to a NAB account.

The NAB account had $12,255 in withdrawals at Crown Towers in August.

He placed $27,355 in his betting company account from June 10 to August 9 last year.

The 42-year-old, who lives near Mansfield, had tried to board an overseas plane on August 27 before being arrested.

He was charged by Wodonga detectives and admitted to deception offences in the Wodonga Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Lawyer Andrew Papadimitropoulos said his client admitted it was "horrendous offending" and a breach of trust, which he said was the result of a "pathological gambling addiction".

He said his client had been chasing his losses.

"It just spirals out of control very quickly within a two-week period," Mr Papadimitropoulos said.

The director of the business, who is considered the main victim of the offending, was in court on Wednesday.

The court heard the business had borne the cost of the deception of $107,000, but insurance had covered about $49,000.

The remaining cash is outstanding and the offender plans to repay the cash.

None of the couples who had planned weddings were out of pocket, with the winery honouring the deposits despite never receiving them.

The court heard El-Asmar had received the money and had gone "straight to the casino".

He had also taken $10,000 out of his partner's account, the court heard.

"He clearly at that stage is in the throes of that disorder," Mr Papadimitropoulos said.

"This was very unsophisticated.

"As night follows day, it was inevitable that he would be detected."

The lawyer sought the matter be dealt with in the lower court instead of the County Court.

Magistrate Peter Dunn denied the bid, and said the case needed the "gravitas" of the higher court.

El-Asmar formally entered guilty pleas to deception offences and will face the higher court in Wodonga in January next year.

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