Forgeries, footwear and frocks: Fight over fraudster Melissa Caddick’s last assets
Forged signatures, valuable sneakers and missing dresses being held by the husband of missing fraudster Melissa Caddick featured in the latest court stoush as receivers try to wind up the conwoman’s estate.
Caddick vanished in November 2020 within hours of the corporate watchdog raiding her Dover Heights home. Three months later her partial remains contained in a running shoe washed up on Bournda Beach on the NSW far South Coast.
Sydney fraudster Melissa Caddick with a Jordan 1 Retro High Dior that sells for around $12,000.Credit:
Over an eight-year period from October 2012, Caddick stole more than $23 million from her clients, who were mainly family and friends.
Instead of investing their money, Caddick used the funds to pursue a lavish lifestyle that included designer clothes, travel, real estate, luxury vehicles and jewellery.
On Wednesday, Michael Hayter, the solicitor representing the receivers, expressed frustration over the refusal of her second husband, hairdresser Anthony Koletti, to hand back some of his wife’s dresses.
The Federal Court in Sydney heard Koletti had taken them from the couple’s Dover Heights home without the consent of receivers and was refusing access to them to determine whether they could be sold.
A collection of 30 pairs of high-end sneakers collected by Caddick’s 17-year-old son is also proving to be contentious.
“I know this is going to sound petty,” said Hayter, adding: “They’re not the normal type sneakers that I wear.”
But from what receivers could ascertain, at least one pair purchased by his mother from Christian Dior could be valued at $12,000 if they were in mint condition, the solicitor said.
Hayter said Koletti was frustrating the receivers’ request to be able to inspect the shoes to see whether they have any value. If not, “we can move on,” he said.
Melissa Caddick (with husband Anthony Koletti) is wearing a diamond and sapphire necklace she purchased for $370,000 in 2015 using stolen funds.
Koletti’s solicitor Richard Allsop said Koletti’s stepson, who lives with him, is doing year 12 and it was not a good time to be demanding access to the sneakers. “Having been through what he has been through, there is a real concern he is not distracted any further,” Allsop said.
Court documents tendered last year show Koletti, 41, was claiming he is the guardian of Caddick’s son. “[Name redacted] resides with me full time. He has done since 2102(sic), I am his Gardian (sic),” he said in an email.
As soon as his wife “is officially declared dead” he would become the guardian “as per Melissa’s request in her last will,” Koletti wrote in an email dated February 3, 2022, which he sent to Hayter.
In May this year, a coroner found that while the notorious fraudster is dead, the cause and manner of her death are set to remain a mystery because of her husband’s failure to provide a “frank account” of what took place during the 30 hours before Koletti reported his wife missing.
Koletti’s claim of guardianship was disputed by the boy’s biological father Tony Caddick who, according to court documents, wrote to Hayter in January 2022, stating that while Koletti was the boy’s stepfather he had no other legal rights and doubted “Mr Koletti has any idea what he’s doing”.
Koletti, who had been originally demanding half of his wife’s estate, is now fighting over a bank account, a wedding band, two luxury watches, a diamond and sapphire skull pendant and two of his wife’s dresses.
The court heard he will return other dresses and has agreed to take the two unspecified frocks to his solicitor’s office for inspection.
Allsop said Caddick’s family was also claiming $8500 from one of Caddick’s bank accounts containing $21,000.
The court also heard Caddick had forged signatures on a self-managed superannuation document.
It is understood she forged the signature of her first husband Tony Caddick to replace him as trustee with her brother Adam Grimley, whose signature she also forged.
After her disappearance, the Federal Court appointed Bruce Gleeson and Daniel Soire from Jones Partners to investigate the financial affairs of Caddick and her company Maliver. For the past two-and-a-half years, the receivers have been selling off Caddick’s jewellery, cars, clothes, artwork and her Dover Heights house.
The apartment which Caddick bought in 2016 for $2.55 million is the only remaining asset to be sold.
Caddick’s parents Barb and Ted Grimley recently moved out of the apartment in return for the payment of almost $1 million.
The Edgecliff apartment is set for a spring auction.
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