Melissa Caddick ‘sold New York property’ before disappearing

Details have emerged about Sydney businesswoman Melissa Caddick’s big spending spree before her disappearance. This comes as her husband handed in five passports in her name.

The husband of missing businesswoman Melissa Caddick handed in five passports in her name days after she disappeared.

And it can also be revealed the Dover Heights woman with expensive tastes allegedly funded by scams told a Sydney jeweller she had recently sold a New York City property while paying for a $100,000 necklace she has not collected.

Melissa Caddick vanished on November 12. Picture: Andy Baker

More than a month after the 49-year-old vanished without a trace, police and her fleeced investors are still puzzled as to what became of the mother-of-one.

Ms Caddick was last seen at her home late on November 11, hours after a police raid as part of an investigation into large-scale embezzlement.

Since then, police have found no evidence Ms Caddick committed self-harm or pulled off an elaborate escape.

In fact, no trace of the missing woman, who left her phone and wallet at home, has been found at all.

Caddick told her jeweller she had recently sold a New York City property.

Her younger husband of seven years, Anthony Koletti, handed in five passports — one current and four expired — all in his wife’s name days after she disappeared. The passports were all Australian.

Before she went missing, Ms Caddick paid $100,000 for a diamond necklace from her favourite jeweller, Canturi, in the CBD.

Stefano and Patricia Canturi told ASIC investigators that Ms Caddick hadn’t collected the dazzling necklace yet, but mentioned she’d recently sold a property in New York City.

Ms Caddick, who had 48 pieces of jewellery seized from her home, claimed she had lost money on the real estate deal because COVID-19 had driven down property prices.

A search of land title records in the United States by The Sunday Telegraph did not produce any record of Ms Caddick ever owning a property in New York, either under her name or through her business, Maliver Pty Ltd.

Caddick paid $100,000 for a necklace from Stefano Canturi but did not pick it up. Picture: Stuart Ramson

The extravagant purchase and sweeping claims were all part of the allure Ms Caddick created. She was dressed head to toe in high-end designer clothing, inquired about buying a $30 million-plus mansion in Vaucluse, and had a private chef cook for her clients at her own city-view mansion.

But an Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) investigation found those luxuries were probably paid for by Ms Caddick’s investors.

In September, ASIC began an investigation into Ms Caddick after it emerged she was operating under a former colleague’s Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) to run her business.

According to an affidavit filed in the Federal Court, about five or six years ago, Ms Caddick asked someone she knew from working at ING Direct 20 years ago if she could operate under her AFSL.

The colleague, who was operating a self-managed superannuation insurance business, said she’d think about it, then later told Ms Caddick “no” because she didn’t want the risk of being called an adviser. Ms Caddick replied: “I will get my own AFSL”. She never did.

ASIC discovered Ms Caddick has never held an AFSL, under her own name or her business name, which would allow her to manage and invest her clients’ money.

By the time she made that phone call to her old colleague, Ms Caddick had already left the corporate world, including a senior role at Wise Financial Services.

Husband Anthony Koletti, seen here with Caddick, handed in five passports in his wife’s name.

In 2013 she set up Maliver — a financial planning business she ran out of a plush office inside her $6.2 million Dover Heights home.

She created an air of exclusivity around her, and often told people she either wasn’t taking on new clients or was getting rid of the smaller ones.

One client alone had invested $4 million-$5 million with her.

Ms Caddick sent forged CommSec monthly trading account statements to her clients to make them believe they were getting returns of up to 30 per cent. She told clients she took 0.75 per cent of their investment for her services.

When ASIC was tipped off, they applied to the Federal Court on November 10 for freezing orders.

The following day, ASIC investigators and the Australia Federal Police turned up to her Wallangra Rd home with a search warrant and a copy of the freeze orders.

The orders covered her multiple bank accounts, but entitled her to an allowance of $800 a week and banned her from travelling overseas.

It would have been a huge shock to the jetsetter who spent her Christmas holidays in Aspen and has splurged $230,000 in Christian Dior and $180,000 at Canturi in the last three years alone.

One of the last conversations Ms Caddick had before she vanished was with Isabella Allen, an ASIC investigator who was at the search of her home.

Ms Caddick asked when she had to appear in court and if she had to hand in her passports to the Federal Court the following day.

Ms Caddick also asked if the freeze orders covered her credit cards.

“Does this mean I can’t use my credit cards?” she asked Ms Allan, according to an affidavit filed in court. “All day-to-day transactions are purchased on credit cards.”

Ms Allen suggested she talk to a lawyer.

“Do you have a lawyer?” Ms Allan asked.

Ms Caddick replied: “No, I have no one to call.”

Caddick’s husband Anthony Koletti (centre) and her brother Adam Grimley after her disappearance. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

That night, Mr Koletti told police, the couple went to bed and when he woke up the following morning his wife was gone.

Her son told police he heard the front door close about 5.30am on November 12 and assumed his mother had gone for a run. Neighbours in the street said they had never crossed paths with Ms Caddick on morning runs.

Ms Allan sent multiple emails to Ms Caddick reminding her of the upcoming Federal Court case and included instructions on how to log on using Microsoft Teams.

When the hearing began at 9.45am on November 13, the user name “Anthony K” popped up on screens as an observer.

About 10am, Mr Koletti called the AFP and said his wife was missing, and two hours later he made an official report to Eastern Suburbs police.

Three days later, Detective Sergeant Michael Kyneur from Bondi Police told ASIC: “I have got five Australian passports handed in by the husband in the name of ­Melissa Caddick.”