Jewellery and designer goods previously in the possession of Melissa Caddick will go under the hammer after a court ordered several “uncontested” assets of the missing fraudster should be sold.
Ms Caddick, a self-styled financial adviser who is thought dead after her foot washed up on a NSW beach in 2021, vanished in November 2020 after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission raided her home in Sydney’s east.
ASIC had been probing her company, Maliver Pty Ltd, over claims it was providing financial services without a licence and that its sole director and shareholder had misappropriated funds.
Court proceedings initiated by the corporate watchdog in November 2020 remain underway against the Ponzi scheme mastermind and her company in a bid to return money to duped investors.
On Monday, as part of the long-running civil action, barrister Nicola Bailey, acting for receivers of Ms Caddick’s estate, sought Federal Court orders permitting disposal of assets over which no objection had been received from “out-of-pocket investors”.
Uncontested goods to be sold via auction, or returned to owners, included Canturi jewellery, designer goods and household items, Ms Bailey said.
Of the jewellery, Ms Bailey said Canturi Corporation had “no difficulty” in delivering up pieces in its possession.
She said uncommercial items like stationery and cleaning products could be given to charity, while a pearl necklace would be “disclaimed” to its owner.
All proceeds would be held in a receiver trust account, the barrister said, noting that a “contested asset application’ would be made at a future date.
The court heard that Ms Caddick’s husband Anthony Koletti objected to the sale of some assets but that they did not include those under consideration on Monday.
In April, Mr Koletti claimed, as per court documents, that he was entitled to a share in millions of dollars worth of Ms Caddick’s property, jewellery, artworks and cars.
The Sydney hairdresser later abandoned the claim, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
“I am satisfied I can make the orders sought … based on the evidence that has been read this morning,” Justice Brigitte Marcovic said.
“I am satisfied that all necessary parties have been notified of the proposal to sell various assets that form the receivership property.”
The judge said any assets subject to an objection did not come under the order and so would not be sold, with the resolution of those assets being “for another day”.
Ms Caddick, 49, swindled more than $30 million in funds over eight years, leaving investors out of pocket by as much as $23.7 million, the Federal Court has previously been told.
