Suspected runaway conwoman Melissa Caddick has left those she loved the most, her immediate family, in a terrible predicament.
Blood was always thicker than water for the missing Dover Heights woman, who counted her husband, brother and parents as her closest confidants.
But not only has Caddick, 49, been missing for three months, her alleged financial misappropriation could see her inner circle lose their homes.
A group of 13 investors has urged receivers to immediately sell Caddick’s mortgaged properties: the $6.2million property where she, husband Anthony Koletti and her son lived; and the $2.55million Edgecliff parents her elderly parents and older brother call home.
That’s even as the angry investors acknowledge her family, too, ‘are also victims’ of her alleged scamming.
So who’s who in Caddick’s family? And how are they dealing with a situation that none of them asked for?
The circle of trust: Suspected runaway conwoman Melissa Caddick (centre) with her husband, Anthony Koletti (right) and her brother, Adam Grimley (left), on holiday in Fiji
Ms Caddick, wearing a $250,000 Stefano Canturi necklace, with her husband Mr Koletti on her birthday this year. He is not suggested to have played any role in her disappearance. On right, Ms Caddick is seen during a helicopter ride
The husband: Anthony Koletti
Melissa Caddick’s husband of seven years, Anthony Koletti
Melissa Caddick’s husband, Anthony Koletti, has many feathers to his cap.
Super car enthusiast, DJ, Joh Bailey hairdresser, ‘prawn farmer’, step-dad, dog lover… and deserted spouse.
Mr Koletti, 38, and Caddick, 49, have been married for seven years. She fell for him while he was doing her hair close to a decade ago.
‘It was about the way he massaged her head,’ a source familiar with the family claimed.
In the wake of Caddick’s disappearance, Mr Koletti has somewhat cruelly been described as her ‘toy boy’.
He is not suggested to have any involvement in his wife’s disappearance or have any knowledge of her company’s alleged financial misappropriation of investor funds.
However, there is little doubt he benefited from his wife’s apparent wealth. He drove a $300,000 Audi R8 and they holidayed as a family each year in Aspen, Colorado.
Mr Koletti has been a DJ – producing a music video in 2015 – and a stay-at-home husband for the past year.
He put down his scissors at a Bondi Junction salon when the pandemic hit last March.
Caddick’s disappearance left him broke. In the weeks after his wife vanished, Mr Koletti told the Federal Court he had just $1.95 left in his only transaction account.
He’s living off a court ordered allowance of $1700 per week which is paid from Caddick’s frozen assets.
Caddick’s disappearance has led Mr Koletti to have several conversations with police about his missing wife.
Last November, he publicly called for the ‘communities of Australia’ to come together, find Melissa and bring her home but has kept his counsel since.
‘We just want her back’, he said.
There has been some intrigue over why it took 30 hours for Mr Koletti to report his wife’s disappearance to police.
But Detective Inspector Gretchen Atkins told 60 Minutes that Mr Koletti was ‘doing what he can to assist us when we ask for help.
‘I think he’s struggled to be what you would expect … to be proactive,’ the police officer added.
Off to the races: The once happy couple attending an event together
As Daily Mail Australia revealed on Tuesday, Mr Koletti has turned to his in-laws, Ted and Barbara, for support, rather than his immediate family.
Look what she did to the people she professed to love
An investor in Caddick’s company who spoke on the condition of anonymity
He was photographed meeting Caddick’s parents for an ‘animated’ two hour discussion on Sunday.
Prior to that, he had been spending a considerable amount of time at their Edgecliff home – rather than the $6.2million mansion where he lives – sources said.
Mr Koletti’s own family claim they only met Caddick a handful of times, his father previously slamming him as ‘delusional’ about her alleged activities.
‘If Anthony is guilty of anything, it is for being in love with his wife, wanting her safely back at home, and being delusional about the truth of what she may have done,’ tax agent dad Rodo Koletti said.
The brother: Adam Grimley
Caddick’s brother, Adam Grimley, has been left to clean up the mess, as manager of her estate
Melissa’s older brother had only recently returned to Australia for health reasons.
He was living in Singapore, where he worked as a governance consultant.
But a source familiar with the family said Adam was unable to return to the south east Asian metropolis due to Covid.
Since then, he has been lugged with a series of even bigger problems.
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His little sister is missing, and he has been left managing her estate in her absence.
Mr Grimley wrote to the Federal Court last year and urged a judge to hike up the living allowance for Mr Koletti and Caddick’s teenage son.
He succeeded – with the family granted $1700 a week in payments, rather than a previous $800.
But by mid-December, Mr Grimley had already incurred $55,000 in legal costs dealing with his sister’s matter, which receivers may pay for.
Complicating matters further, Mr Grimley has a one per cent stake to Melissa’s 99 per cent stake in her Dover Heights mansion.
Mr Grimley’s lip quivered during his only press appearance last November, calling for his sibling to come home.
‘Melissa, please let us know you are safe and sound,’ he said. ‘We love you,’
The parents: Ted and Barbara
Barbara and Edward Grimley, Melissa’s parents
Ted and Barbara Grimley sold their house in Sydney’s south and moved into an apartment in Edgecliff, in the city’s inner east, in order to be closer to their daughter.
Caddick bought them the top-level unit. Now the retirees’ $2million home is at risk of being sold from under them.
The couple are said to be desperately worried by their daughter’s disappearance and the predicament they have been left in.
‘They had explicit trust in her,’ said a source who invested in Caddick’s company and was acquainted with her family. ‘And I think they’re realising that they’re as much victims to that trust as well.’
The investor noted Mr and Mrs Grimley faced possible eviction from their home to pay down Melissa’s debts.
‘Where are they going to go? They’re 80 plus years old. They’re not in good health.
‘You’ve got Adam who has been left to clean up this mess – emotionally and technically.
‘I kind of just sit there and go, we got done out of money. Look what she did to the people she professed to love.’
Receivers will report back to the Federal Court on Caddick’s assets on Monday.
