Auckland wedding 'scammers' who owe couples thousands of dollars instruct lawyer

Saturday, 9 March 2019

Tegan and Jerome Iakimo on their wedding day in Rarotonga, which Tegan Iakimo says was a 'disaster'. The couple, who live in Australia, are owed thousands of dollars by Auckland men Remi Wearing and Charls Ingaua who formerly ran the business Paradise Wedding Desires.

Two former wedding planners who owe multiple couples thousands of dollars for botched destination ceremonies in the Cook Islands have hired a top law firm after Stuff published stories about the allegations.

Earlier this week, Stuff reported that Auckland-based Paradise Wedding Desires, owned by Remi Wearing and Charls Ingaua, had been hired to organise several couples' weddings. But when the wedding parties arrived in Rarotonga, Wearing and Ingaua told them standard services such as hair and makeup artists, photographers and caterers were not available.

Ingaua told Stuff he would refund some of the couples' money by March 15 to make up for the errors, but claimed he had to 'save up' before he could afford the payments which amount to more than $14,000. He said he and Wearing had nothing to hide.

On Thursday, Stuff received a letter from large commercial law firm Simpson Grierson, acting on behalf of Wearing and Ingaua.

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It claimed that media attention had made it difficult for the pair to pay back the money they owed, because it caused them stress and anxiety.

According to Simpson Grierson's website the firm has 330 employees, including 220 partners and lawyers, across its Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch offices.

The letter, signed by one of the firm's partners, said Ingaua and Wearing acknowledged mistakes were made when organising Australian couple Jerome and Tegan Iakimo's wedding and that of another Kiwi couple.

It also confirmed Ingaua and Wearing would be honouring their commitment to refund the Iakimos and the couple a total of NZ$14,800 by next Friday.

The letter said Ingaua and Wearing had made two cash payments totalling AU$1600 to the Iakimos' Australian bank account late last year as a contribution to the AU$8000 (NZ$8300) they had promised to refund.

It added that Ingaua and Wearing had refunded another couple who paid a deposit toward a booking for their big day in April 2019. Ingaua and Wearing cancelled that wedding and refunded the money after they decided to close the business, the letter said.

The lawyer who wrote the letter confirmed their clients also owed three Cook Islands suppliers small amounts of money and said those payments were 'being attended to'.

Ingaua had previously told Stuff he and Wearing owed two other couples refunds. The letter said Ingaua had since reviewed his payment records and found this 'was not the case'.

'Any allegations that money is due to any other wedding couples would be false,' the lawyer wrote.

The letter said some of the allegations reported by international media outlets were incorrect.

Media coverage of the allegations which alleged Paradise Wedding Desires was a 'scam' had come as shock to Ingaua and Wearing, the letter said.

The 'media storm' that followed had made it difficult for the pair to process the refunds as it caused them stress, anxiety and financial pressure, it said.

The letter said Ingaua and Wearing and their friends and family had been bullied after the publication of reports alleging they were 'scammers' and 'fraudsters'.

'Those words are wholly inappropriate tags in the circumstances and there is no proper factual basis for making any such allegations.'

The Cook Islands police told Stuff on Tuesday they had received two complaints about Ingaua and Wearing and were investigating.

The force's media officer, Trevor Pitt, confirmed that Ingaua's father, Areumu Ingaua, was a detective in the country's police force but said the relationship between the pair would not impact the inquiry.

The lawyer's letter said the relationship between two men was 'wholly irrelevant'.

Ingaua and Wearing had not been contacted by the police in either New Zealand or the Cook Islands, the letter said.

The lawyer said the allegations against their clients were a civil, not a criminal, matter.

The letter also said that Ingaua and Wearing were concerned media reports about the allegations had damaged the Cook Islands' 'deserved reputation as an excellent wedding destination'.

Tegan Iakimo has been contacted for comment about the content of the lawyer's letter.