Melissa Caddick: ASIC needs more time to untangle con woman’s affairs
ASIC has revealed the con woman’s affairs are so complicated it needs more time to see how much can be clawed back for investors.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The corporate watchdog is going to need more time to untangle the web of deceit left by the disappearance and suspected death of con woman Melissa Caddick.
The hunt for her missing millions was expected to continue in the Federal Court next week but the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has revealed they have applied to the court to postpone the hearing.
ASIC said today that it needed more time as it has ploughed through the complicated financial affairs left by Ms Caddick, 49, who disappeared after officials raided her heavily-mortgaged $7 million Dover Heights mansion on November 11 last year.
The commission said its priority was to find and secure as much as possible for the 74 investors who have so far been tracked down and who lost $23 million by trusting the businesswoman that she was investing their life savings for them both herself and through her company Maliver Pty Ltd.
Ms Caddick’s death has not been confirmed despite campers finding human remains in a running shoe which have been linked through DNA as belonging to her on isolated Bournda Beach, south of Tathra, on February 21.
“As part of its Federal Court action, ASIC is preparing detailed evidence in relation to the circumstances of funds being invested with Maliver Pty Ltd through Ms Caddick,” a spokeswoman for the commission said today.
“To allow time to complete preparation of this comprehensive evidence, ASIC has applied to the Court to move the hearing of this proceeding set for 7-8 April 2021.
“ASIC’s priority is to facilitate, through court action, the return of funds to Maliver Pty Ltd investors as efficiently as possible.”
A new court date is yet to be set.
ASIC this week dropped 38 criminal charges against Ms Caddick including not holding a financial services licence, 19 counts of falsely holding out that she had a financial services licence and 18 counts of dishonest conduct in relating to providing financial services.
Provisional liquidators Jones Partners have revealed the missing millions were wasted on designer clothes, flash jewellery, overseas holidays and buying her eastern suburbs home, an Edgecliff penthouse where her parents Barbara and Ted live, and an Aspen ski lodge. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by Ms Caddick’s family.
She tricked investors with a complex network of lies and forged documents.
More Coverage
‘Not a f*cking rapist’: Acquittal in Snapchat sex assault case
A 35-year-old man who vehemently told police he was “not a f-cking rapist” has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting a woman he met through Snapchat on the Mid-North Coast.
Inquest begins into death of mum ‘eaten by dogs’
Lasonya Dutton’s decomposed body was found just metres from her family’s kitchen window, sparking a years-long quest for answers. Now, the coroner has stepped in.