June 11, 2026 — 3:50pmPerth celebrity vet Peter Ricci, who featured on the TV series Bondi Vet: Coast to Coast, has had his registration cancelled after he was found to have engaged in professional misconduct by posing as a lawyer, fabricating a debt, and distributing a media statement with false allegations of animal cruelty and identity theft.Last week, WA’s State Administrative Tribunal cancelled Ricci’s registration and ordered him to pay $10,000 in costs after a series of bizarre and threatening emails he sent to a club secretary were brought to light.Perth’s Bondi Vet Dr Peter Ricci.InstagramRicci, who worked at the Animal Hospital at Murdoch University and at Perth Zoo, was selected out of hundreds of applicants to be the next Bondi Vet along with three others when Chris Brown stepped down from the popular reality television show in 2017.But now he faces at least six months out of work after complaints were made about him to the body responsible for regulating veterinary medicine in WA.Those complaints were substantiated by the tribunal, which found Ricci and the woman knew each other through a Perth club, the details of which were suppressed along with the woman’s identity in published tribunal documents.Perth’s Bondi Vet Dr Peter Ricci.InstagramAccording to those documents, an argument had broken out between the pair that led to Ricci sending the woman a cease and desist letter in February 2024 telling her to stop all “harassing, bullying and defamatory activities and collusions with others to harass, bully or defame against and towards me”.The letter stated that the woman’s actions had caused him to suffer medically, psychologically and professionally.Months later, he created a fake email address purporting to be from a practising WA lawyer and in May 2024, he sent the same woman another cease and desist letter from that account, pretending the lawyer was representing him.The email stated that if the woman did not comply with a list of demands, she would be charged the lawyer’s legal fees at a rate of $340 an hour.The woman asked for the lawyer’s contact details but a further email from Ricci – pretending to be the lawyer – declined.The woman then contacted the lawyer, who told her Ricci was not his client and he had not corresponded with her at all. The woman wrote back to the email address and said she had taken the matter to the police.According to the tribunal documents, a few days later Ricci emailed her again, still pretending to be the lawyer, and told the woman she had made “unfounded and damaging allegations” that might lead to “severe consequences, including potential legal action, restraining orders and claims for damages”. He sought an apology from the woman and threatened legal action if she did not comply.Weeks later, Ricci wrote to the woman again telling her he was “utterly appalled by [her] persistent and egregious violations of his rights”, and claimed that the woman was using Ricci’s “name, likeness and location” in a Facebook post and accused her of harassment, stalking and business fraud.“Your behaviour is reprehensible and will not be tolerated any longer,” he wrote.Ricci in 2017.Bondi VetHe then told the woman that she had an outstanding invoice with his company, Ricci Veterinary Solutions, for $5250, which was untrue.A day later he released a media statement that was headlined: “Dr Peter Ricci, Bondi Vet, Faces Legal Battle.”In it, he claimed that he had fallen victim to identity theft and business fraud “orchestrated by club officials”.He also claimed the club president has been involved in the illegal killing and sale of animals for the extraction of blood, and claimed he was threatened with violence when he refused to supply the man with drugs.The tribunal found Ricci’s allegations towards the club members were unfounded and false, and found he was not “a fit and proper person to hold registration as a veterinarian”.Ricci told the tribunal he was deeply regretful and genuinely remorseful of his actions, claiming that he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and acute stress reaction. ‘He had left his job, he said, because of his psychological issues and was now in receipt of a workers’ compensation payment.Ricci added that his actions arose out of personal conflict between himself and the woman from the club and other individuals in leadership roles there.“With the benefit of hindsight, the respondent recognises that he became overly emotionally involved in those interpersonal conflicts and recognises that he should have disengaged from those interpersonal disputes earlier,” tribunal documents stated.“The respondent believes that his psychological issues impacted on his conduct toward the other individuals.”Ricci is not allowed to reapply for registration for six months and was ordered to pay the other party’s legal costs of $10,000.More:CourtsVeterinary healthCrimeCourtsWA courtsDefamationPerthFrom our partners