An ex-AFL umpire has been accused of placing fraudulent bets under a different account name about players he knew would receive Brownlow Medal votes and passing insider information onto others.

Michael Pell, who resigned from AFL umpiring in 2022, faced Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday charged with six betting fraud offences over the 2021 Brownlow Medal awards.

He is accused of communicating information to three men, including co-accused William Forde, in connection with "which AFL player was awarded three Brownlow Medal votes or any Brownlow Medal votes in six games" ahead of the awards night in September 2021, court documents reveal.

When Pell passed on the insider information, the then-umpire "knew that the information was about conduct that corrupted the betting outcome of th

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