Melissa Caddick’s brother blamed investigator for the conwoman’s death

Melissa Caddick’s brother asked investigator ‘how she felt’ being responsible for the fraudster’s death after a decomposing foot washed up on a beach.

Anthony Koletti, the husband of missing conwoman Melissa Caddick, at the NSW Coroners Court in Lidcombe

The brother of Melissa Caddick asked a corporate watchdog investigator how she felt about being responsible for the death of his sister months after her decomposing foot was found inside a designer sneaker on a beach on the NSW south coast.

An inquest into the disappearance and probable death of the missing conwoman heard Adam Grimley made the comments to Isabella Allen, an Australian Securities & Investment Commission official, in June 2021.

When John Sutton, who is representing Ms Allen, asked her if she felt responsible, she replied: “No, I was doing my job.”

The inquest heard Caddick’s husband Anthony Koletti, a hairdresser and DJ, made a number of complaints about the ASIC raid on their $15m home in Dover Heights in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

The complaints alleged fraud investigators denied the couple water, food and medical attention and that officers giggled as they raided Ms Caddick’s million-­dollar wardrobe and swore during the raid.

Ms Allen on Monday described the claims as “fictitious”, and the inquest heard everyone was offered muesli bars during the raid on November 12, 2020, which the couple refused.

She said the ASIC officers behaved professionally and said there was food in the cupboards, drinks in the fridge and water in the tap to which the couple could help themselves.

The inquest heard Caddick filed her nails, drank a protein shake, smoked cigarettes with her husband and took a nap during the raid.

Ms Allen said Caddick had seemed to be “a bit shocked but not anxious” during the raid and asked if the execution of the warrant meant she could no longer use her credit cards.

Caddick is alleged to have run a Ponzi scheme and used millions of dollars of investor funds to finance a lavish lifestyle and designer tastes, and the inquest on Wednesday heard investigators seized a number of high-end fashion items.

Anthony Koletti and Melissa Caddick.

When asked by Judy Swan, who is representing Mr Koletti, if investigators had seized Caddick’s wedding dress, Ms Allen said a white dress was seized but she was unsure if it was a wedding dress and said many of the designer items remained boxed.

“I don’t know what Melissa wore on her wedding day,” she said.

Ms Allen said a “look of horror” crossed over Caddick’s face when an investigator put her wedding ring and watch into the same ziplock bag

“They made a clang noise (and) Ms Caddick wasn’t too pleased with the noise they made,” she ­recalled.

Ms Allen said money from new investors was used to pay existing clients and part of the fraud was presenting investors with falsified statements showing fake returns.

“As a result of tracing financial records, a significant amount of money invested by clients was used for her personal benefit,” she said.

Ms Allen said the investigation was conducted as a covert operation to protect investors and aggrieved persons and said the corporate watchdogs only contacted people to whom they were referred. “For a Ponzi scheme, it is very hard to determine how close investors are to the scheme,” she said.

The inquest heard that Caddick had used the financial licence of an investor, who made complaints to ASIC in November 2019 and again in June 2020.

The conwoman had also copied and pasted the investor’s financial guide.

Caddick disappeared the day after her home was raided.

Her decomposing foot was found inside a designer sneak on Bournda Beach, near Tathra, on the NSW south coast about five months later in February.

Ms Allen said it was her opinion that Mr Koletti wasn’t involved in the alleged fraud.

The inquest continues.