Melissa Caddick (pictured) vanished from her family home on November 12 and hasn’t been seen for more than a month
The chief investigator into Melissa Caddick’s alleged financial misconduct warned that she could take off overseas at short notice and compromise their investigation.
That alarm was sounded just three days before the wealthy Sydney businesswoman, 49, vanished without a trace from her Dover Heights home last month, court documents said.
Daily Mail Australia has obtained court filings which reveal just how concerned financial watchdog ASIC was that Ms Caddick was a flight risk in the 72 hours before she went missing.
In an affidavit sworn on November 9, top investigator Isabelle Lucy Allen expressed concern about Ms Caddick’s frequent overseas travel and payments to the United States.
Ms Allen was worried about how Ms Caddick had flown overseas some 25 times between 2009 and August 2020 – including 13 trips to the US, where she boasted of having a five star holiday apartment in the rich kid’s playground of Aspen, Colorado.
Meanwhile, ASIC investigators were also troubled by Ms Caddick owning a bank account which contained only US dollars. The businesswoman tipped $340,000 into the account in August – which later mysteriously disappeared.
Melissa Caddick (pictured, centre, with husband Anthony Koletti, right) boasted of having a five star holiday apartment in the wealthy ski town of Aspen, Colorado
ASIC was concerned enough that investigators sought Federal Court orders confiscating Ms Caddick’s passport and freezing her assets on November 10.
Case officer Ms Allen told the court in her affidavit: ‘I am concerned based on Ms Caddick’s history of frequent travel movements and payments to the USA that she has the capacity and the means to travel on short notice.’
It was vital for Ms Caddick to stay in Australia to protect investors and assist the investigation, Ms Allen said.
‘ASIC’s investigations may be compromised if she does not remain in Australia and is not able to assist in the investigation.’
I am concerned ….that she has the capacity and the means to travel on short notice
A judge signed off on the court orders and police raided Ms Caddick’s $6.1 million Dover Heights home that same day.
Two days later, on November 12, Ms Caddick mysteriously vanished.
Detectives were told she may have gone for her morning jog about 5.30am.
However, they are yet to spot her running along her usual route that morning on local CCTV cameras.
Unnamed friends of Ms Caddick’s likewise cast doubt on the morning jog claim, telling the Sydney Morning Herald that she had recently suffered an ankle injury, and had only been working out on the treadmill in her home gym.
Ms Caddick curls up on the lounge during a luxury Fijian getaway in 2017. The court was told she travelled overseas 25 times between 2009 and August 2020, according to Border Force
Ms Caddick’s disappearance has complicated ASIC’s investigation, given investigators can no longer sit down and interview her.
Making matters worse is the fact Ms Caddick was the sole director and shareholder in her business, Maliver Pty Ltd.
She is probably the only person who truly knows how the whole enterprise worked.
But ASIC’s forensic accounting investigations continue, and the Federal Court heard this week that a flood of investors have come forward since her high-profile disappearance, claiming they were owed up to $13.1million.
So far, ASIC has uncovered an alleged scheme where Ms Caddick allegedly misused investors’ funds, after having lured them in with the prospect of dazzling returns.
She allegedly created fake CommSec portfolio statements for her clients in order to impress them with the wealth she was generating for them.
One investor showed Daily Mail Australia a document that he and his wife received from Ms Caddick, which claimed they had reaped an enormous 257 per cent return on their stocks.
Investors believe Ms Caddick’s enterprise worked like a Ponzi scheme – where old clients received ‘returns’ from the money of newer investors she had signed up.
ASIC has accused Ms Caddick – who had 29 bank accounts – of using more than $690,000 from investors to pay off her American Express credit card bill.
Court documents said she racked up five-figure spends on luxury products such as Dior, Chanel and Canturi using that card.
Missing Ms Caddick had a taste for luxury clothes and designer jewellery and racked up five-figure spends on luxury products such as Dior, Chanel and Canturi using
However, her bank accounts have been quiet for the past month, for obvious reasons.
Ms Caddick’s passport, and many of her possessions, remain in the hands of Bondi detectives who are pursuing several theories.
There’s no direct evidence of her taking off overseas and officers are understood to be open to other explanations for her disappearance as well.
On Tuesday, Federal Court Justice Brigitte Markovic ordered ‘drastic’ action be taken against Ms Caddick appointing receivers over her personal assets.
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Provisional liquidators will likewise be appointed over her wealth management company, Maliver Pty Ltd.
Ms Caddick with husband Anthony Koletti – who is not suggested to have played any role in Ms Caddick’s disappearance or alleged financial misconduct
The court heard debate between ASIC’s lawyer, Stephanie Fendekian, and a lawyer for Ms Caddick’s brother, Adam Grimley, on Tuesday, over the living expenses her husband Anthony Koletti and son are entitled to access from her frozen assets.
The court heard ‘deeply aggrieved’ investors oppose their allowance being increased.
Any money of Ms Caddick’s that the pair spends could reduce the amount investors may get back from receivers.
The case will return to court briefly on Thursday. ASIC will likely seek to wind Ms Caddick’s company up next year.
Meanwhile, an ASIC spokeswoman said: ‘The investigation is ongoing, regardless of Melissa Caddick’s disappearance.’
