A proposed settlement in the ongoing legal dispute over the Sydney home of alleged fraudster Melissa Caddick's parents, would see the couple paid $950,000 and vacate the property, a court has heard.
Ms Caddick vanished in November 2020, shortly after the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) raided her eastern Sydney home as it investigated a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme.
A coroner last week concluded the 49-year-old was dead, but said available evidence did not allow findings about the manner, cause or date of her death.
More than 50 out-of-pocket investors have banded together to be represented in a Federal Court case initiated by ASIC, amid ongoing attempts by receivers to recoup stolen funds via the sale of assets.
That case has recently delved into complex legal issues around the fate of the Edgecliff home of her parents, Barbara and Ted Grimley.
The Grimleys have claimed in court documents they contributed nearly $1.1 million to pay down the $2.25 million mortgage.
Barrister Vanessa Whittaker SC, representing court-appointed receivers, told the court the "heat seems to have gone out" of the issue of the Edgecliff mortgage, as she set out a proposed settlement.
"That settlement, Your Honour, is essentially this: that the Grimleys are paid $950,000 upon vacant possession," she said.
The court heard vacant possession was proposed to occur within six weeks of a direction being made by Justice Brigitte Markovic.
Under the proposal, investors would receive an "interim distribution" of funds realised to date, holding back anticipated costs, expenses and remuneration.
Ms Whittaker said the legal mechanisms had been "squarely raised" with investors, who had an opportunity to voice concerns and raise objections.
"Where we say we've arrived at, is they don't object to the way forward, they don't positively consent," she said.
The court heard receivers were preparing investors to come to a meeting to decide whether they formally object.
At the time Ms Caddick's home was raided, authorities suspected she had stolen $23 million.
Three months later, her decomposed foot encased in a sneaker washed up on a beach on the NSW South Coast, hundreds of kilometres away from her Dover Heights home.
Medical evidence about the partial remains was "neutral" as to the cause of death, and whether any injuries could point to a fall from height, Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan said last week.
Oceanographic evidence established it was possible Ms Caddick's body entered the water off Dover Heights, but this could also have occurred as far north as Brisbane, or as far south as Hobart.
It was "certainly possible" Ms Caddick died by suicide, but Magistrate Ryan said she could not make a finding to that effect.
