A British citizen was charged in France with money laundering and identity theft after organizing a ceremony at Disneyland Paris in which he played the role of the groom in a fake wedding with a 9-year-old girl, according to information released by prosecutors on Tuesday.

Thanks to information from British authorities, the French justice has been able to locate the 39-year-old man, who was previously convicted “in particular for sexual offenses against minors,” said Meaux prosecutor Jean-Baptiste Bladier in a statement.

He is wanted in his country for failing to comply with the obligations of the British register of perpetrators of sexual offenses on which he is registered, the document states. While the prosecutor's office in Meaux, near Paris, placed him under the status of assisted witness for corruption of minors.

This man played “the role of the groom after being professionally made up to show a face completely different from his own,” the prosecutor said on Sunday.

How did he do it?

According to the prosecutor's office in Meaux, the man, whose name has not been revealed, rented the theme park before its opening to the public last Saturday to carry out the set-up, under a contract valued at 130,000 euros.

The park's employees alerted the police, suspecting a possible illegal child marriage, after it was discovered that the alleged bride was a 9-year-old girl of Ukrainian nationality. Although it was later revealed that the incident was staged, authorities quickly opened an investigation. Baptiste Bladier explained that the British actor acted as the groom after undergoing professional makeup to completely alter his appearance. He also stated that the minor suffered “no physical or sexual violence.” According to information released by the authorities, the minor was accompanied by her 41-year-old mother and had arrived in France two days earlier. She was accompanied by around 100 extras acting as guests, who were unaware of the nature of the event.

The British citizen allegedly recruited people from Latvia and French figures as guests for the ceremony, without knowing the nature of the event.

For the prosecution, Disneyland was deceived, since “the organizer usurped the identity of a Latvian citizen and used false documents to obtain the conclusion of the privatization contract for the park.”

“I witnessed the panic of the Disney people and, through the windows, I saw a little girl in a wedding dress. A woman took her in her arms and, at that moment, I realized that she was very young,” declared one of the hired extras to France Inter radio.

Faced with the controversy surrounding the situation, the theme park clarified that “a private event scheduled on our premises was immediately canceled by our teams after detecting significant irregularities. Law enforcement was immediately alerted and intervened on site as quickly as possible.”

Likewise, Disneyland Paris affirmed that it is fully cooperating with Authorities confirmed they have filed a complaint. Meanwhile, the French justice system is continuing its investigation to clarify all the details of the case.