The family and friends conwoman Melissa Caddick ripped off in her $23 million Ponzi scheme will get back just 40 cents for every dollar they invested.
It’s been almost six years since the 49-year-old’s disappearance, the day before federal police raided her Dover Heights home on behalf of corporate regulator ASIC.
Melissa Caddick was last seen in November 2020. 9News
Fifty-five family members and friends thought she was investing their money in shares but instead the money was funding a luxury lifestyle including, shoes, clothes, jewellery and private jets.
Insolvency firm Jones Partners, which was tasked with unravelling Caddick’s dealings, managed to find and sell hidden assets, including her son’s $17,000 sneaker collection,
They sold $860,000 in jewellery and the Dover Heights property, which fetched $9.8 million.
Bruce Gleeson, the court-appointed receiver from insolvency firm Jones Partners, said it was “one of the most challenging and long-running” appointments of his career.
“We’re proud to have achieved recoveries that allowed us to return almost 40 cents in the dollar to investors who placed their trust in Caddick as their financial adviser,” he said.
The body of Melissa Caddick was found on the NSW South Coast. James Brickwood
“The emotional and financial toll on those investors, when they realised their savings were anything but safe, was never lost on us throughout this process.”
Caddick’s partial remains were found in February 2021, three months after she vanished.
The coroner accepted evidence she may have taken her own life faced with the loss of her family, friends, career and reputation.
Her victims are coming to terms with the emotional and financial toll Caddick caused.
“We, the investors, now have closure of the challenging, traumatic and emotional chapter,” one investor told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Another called Caddick the “con artist of the century”.
“I was dry retching when I found out,” they told the newspaper.