Melissa Caddick: Liquidators say missing businesswoman used fake documents to fool investors
The man sifting through the affairs of a missing Sydney woman has revealed how she “lured” in investors, with some handing over their life savings.
The provisional liquidators sifting through missing businesswoman Melissa Caddick’s affairs have revealed the tangled web of lies and fake documents they believe she used to dupe investors before vanishing into thin air.
Ms Caddick disappeared in November, shortly after her home was raided by the Australian Federal Police as part of an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) investigation into her and her business, Maliver Pty Ltd.
Bruce Gleeson and Daniel Soire, of Jones Partners, were appointed as provisional liquidators of Maliver and as receivers of her property in December.
In a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Gleeson said there was little doubt Ms Caddick had used investor funds to live an extravagant lifestyle, including splashing out on property.
She was “meticulous and systematic” in the way she “lured” investors into handing over money, sometimes their life savings, he said.
“The way that she continually represented to investors that their investments were safe, that their investments were increasing in value.
“All the investors believed that all was going well. But nothing could obviously be further from the truth.”
FAKE STATEMENTS
Mr Gleeson said he and Mr Soire had examined thousands of documents and interviewed Ms Caddick’s family, former colleagues and investors as part of the “unusual” investigation.
He said they had uncovered widespread instances of Ms Caddick providing fake statements to investors, many of them on a Commonwealth Bank or CommSec letterhead.
“In nearly all cases the transactions referred to in the documents and the purported shareholdings deemed to be held by the investors were fictitious,” he said.
He said CBA and CommSec had confirmed the account and/or reference numbers on the statements either did not exist, or did not relate to the relevant investor.
Mr Gleeson said they had not found a single instance of Ms Caddick providing a true CommSec portfolio holding statement to investors.
“Our view therefore is that the documents have been falsified, so as to mislead investors and give Ms Caddick and the company financial benefits,” he said.
TOOLS OF TRADE
Mr Gleeson said it appeared Ms Caddick insisted on using Excel spreadsheets — as opposed to accounting software — which were the “tool of trade” used to generate the fake statements.
That process “enabled” her to paint a misleading picture of the financial position of the company and of the investors she acted for, he said.
“We identified multiple instances where she was recording in Excel spreadsheets investor funds as company revenue when clearly this was not the correct accounting treatment.”
‘BIZARRE AND RISKY’ MOVE
Ms Caddick’s own self-managed super fund also revealed a trail of fake portfolio and bank statements, likely to inflate her assets, Mr Gleeson said.
But she also, in a move described as “bizarre” and “risky” by lawyer Michael Hayter, arranged for her fictitious account to be audited.
“If the auditors for example had picked up that her accounts were fictitious it may have led to a train of inquiry and exposure of other transactions relating to the accounts,” Mr Hayter, who is advising the provisional liquidators, said.
MONEY TRANSFERS
The way Ms Caddick transferred investor funds “in and out” of personal bank accounts almost immediately after they had invested through Maliver made it “nearly impossible” to trace the investments, Mr Hayter said.
Mr Gleeson also said Ms Caddick had been operating without an Australian financial services licence, that investor funds had been “co-mingled” in company and personal accounts, and that share transactions had not occurred in the relevant investor’s name.
“There are hundreds of false bank statements, share contracts and share trading statements,” he said.
NEXT STEPS
Mr Gleeson said there were “many complex legal issues” involved in the matter, not least of which was the fact Ms Caddick is missing.
The way she moved around money under accounts in her name may mean decisions are delayed unless a legal guardian of some kind is appointed.
“This is an unusual matter and we are continuing to liaise with ASIC so that the best strategy can be implemented to enable assets to achieve both aims,” he said.
Mr Gleeson urged anyone who knew of Ms Caddick’s assets or may have lost money to her to come forward.
Ms Caddick is believed to have left her $7 million Dover Heights home in Sydney’s east about 5.30am on November 12 to go on her morning run.
She was due to appear in court later that day but did not take her phone and has not been seen since.