The remaining money left in missing conwoman Melissa Caddick’s accounts and shares has been handed over to liquidators as they seek to pay back some of her stolen millions.
The Federal Court on Friday ruled that money remaining in the missing fraudster’s multiple bank accounts, credit accounts and shares was to be handed over to liquidators as they fight to sell off her multimillion-dollar home.
Ms Caddick disappeared the day after ASIC and the NSW Police raided her $6.2m Dover Heights home in November 2020.
The corporate watchdog says Ms Caddick misappropriated investor money to fund her lavish lifestyle, with investigators seizing luxury items including jewellery, watches, designer clothing and shoes.
ASIC claims Ms Caddick stole from investors in an elaborate Ponzi scheme between 2012 and 2020. It claims she posed as a financial adviser and pretended to invest millions of dollars for clients into fake CommSec portfolios but instead spent the money on herself.
The watchdog has discovered 74 investors, many of whom were her friends and family, were fleeced by Ms Caddick of $23m.
Barrister Steven Golledge, representing the receivers, tendered multiple affidavits to the court from liquidator Bruce Gleeson spelling out why they needed access to the money.
Federal Court Justice Brigitte Markovic said she was “satisfied the orders sought by the receivers can be made”.
“The evidence satisfies me,” she told the court.
The matter will now return to court for a hearing later in the year.
The missing conwoman’xjmtzyws husband Anthony Koletti just last week objected to liquidators selling the couple’s beachside Sydney property in court.
The court was told liquidators were looking to sell off the Dover Heights home as well as a $2.5m Edgecliff penthouse bought for her parents in 2016.
Mr Koletti, 39, told Justice Markovic that he would oppose any application to access the Dover Heights home where he still lives, saying he couldn’t afford to take time off work.
“I disagree to the access because they’ve been in numerous times – probably five, six, seven, eight times,” Mr Koletti, who represented himself, told the court via audiovisual link.
“I just don’t see the point at this point in time and I don’t have the time. I need to make all the money that I can.”
Ms Caddick bought the lavish Dover Heights mansion for $6.2m in 2014 using money misappropriated from clients.
The court was also told that Ms Caddick’s brother, Adam Grimley, was seeking to claim a stake in the Edgecliff property.
Mr Koletti appeared in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday to answer an apprehended violence order taken out on behalf of an ASIC investigator.
Police earlier this month sought an AVO against Mr Koletti to protect Isabella Allen, who is heading up the ASIC investigation.
Mr Koletti told the Downing Centre Local Court that he would contest the AVO.
The matter will return to court next month.
Ms Caddick’s decomposed foot was found on a beach near Tathra on the NSW south coast more than three months after her disappearance, but the coroner is yet to rule on her death.
The Federal Court previously found that Ms Caddick operated her financial services company Maliver without holding an Australian Financial Services licence.
