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1 year ago
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Melissa Caddick's husband has agreed to take a few thousand dollars in luxury goods purchased by the dead fraudster as receivers attempt to recoup millions of dollars owed to conned investors.
Caddick, a self-styled financial adviser, lived a life of luxury on the back of about $30 million stolen mostly from family and friends via an investment scam.
On Monday, lawyers for the receivers of Caddick's property told the Federal Court her husband Anthony Koletti no longer claimed ownership over a number of items he said he had either bought or been gifted.
'There's been a complete backing down by Mr Koletti of his various claims,' Swaab partner Michael Hayter said.
The court was told there had been a 'complete backing down' by Melissa Caddick's husband Anthony Koletti
Under Caddick's fraudulent scheme, investors believed funds were invested in ASX-listed equities.
The receivers from Jones Partners have agreed to hand over several items worth 'a few thousand dollars' to Mr Koletti because that would save time and legal costs compared to resolving the dispute in the courtroom.
The luxury goods Caddick's husband will walk away with include a gentleman's steel Breitling watch and a Canturi 'cubism collection' ring made from 18-carat white gold and 9.47-carat sapphires.
His stepson will also receive over $8500 in cash and the lesser-value sneakers from a collection of shoes purchased by Caddick.
The higher-value footwear will be seized by the receivers and sold, joining other property auctioned off to refund victims.
Assets sold to date include real estate, jewellery, brand-name dresses and artwork.
A further $60,000 in Caddick's superannuation accounts will also be split between the conned investors.
Her brother Adam Grimley and her former husband Tony Caddick told receivers that while they were listed as co-trustees for those accounts, their signatures on the documents were forgeries.
Koletti with his wife Melissa Caddick, who disappeared shortly after her house was raided by the corporate regulator. Only her foot has ever been found, washed up on a NSW South Coast beach
On Monday, Justice Brigette Markovic declined to decide where funds in four other bank accounts held on behalf of four individual investors would go.
The judge decided that all investors should be notified given there was some confusion about where funds transferred into the accounts actually came from and who owned the money.
A further hearing on that matter has been set down for December 4.
Under Caddick's fraudulent scheme, investors provided her funds believing they were being invested in ASX-listed equities using CommSec accounts.
Instead, their investments never existed and the money was used by Caddick to fund her lavish lifestyle.
Days after her Sydney eastern suburbs home was raided by ASIC to uncover her suspected Ponzi scheme, 49-year-old Caddick disappeared in November 2020.
Three months later her severed foot washed up on a beach on the south coast of NSW.
A coroner determined earlier in 2023 she was dead but failed to establish a definitive cause.
A class action by 24 defrauded investors has been launched against several of her auditors hired to conduct annual checks of her clients' self-managed superannuation funds.
The lawsuit alleges auditors failed in their duties and were negligent, engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct, breached their contract and breached the Corporations Act.
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