The legal stoush between the parents of missing fraudster Melissa Caddick and the victims their daughter ripped off over funds from her estate threatens to reach new heights.
Caddick’s elderly parents, Barb and Ted Grimley, have foreshadowed legal action against Jones Partners, the court-appointed receivers handling Caddick’s estate.
Caddick disappeared in November, 2020, just hours after her house was raided by the corporate regulator ASIC over an extensive Ponzi scheme she had been running.
In February, 2021, the partial remains of the then 49-year-old washed up on a remote beach south of Tathra, on the New South Wales south coast.
Melissa Caddick disappeared in November 2020, just hours after her house was raided by the corporate regulator ASIC in relation to an extensive Ponzi scheme she had been running
Representing the Grimley’s, Barrister Robert Newlinds, SC, told the Federal Court on Friday that his clients want the receivers to pay the interest on the mortgage of his clients’ Edgecliff apartment, The Age has revealed.
He said this was because the receivers, Bruce Gleeson and Daniel Soire of Jones Partners, were not complying with a previous court order.
Last July, Justice Brigitte Markovic granted the application from the receivers to use money from the sale of Caddick’s Dover Heights house to discharge the mortgage on an Edgecliff apartment.
The receivers have been entangled in an ongoing battle with the Grimleys over the Edgecliff property, which was purchased by Caddick using stolen funds for $2.55million in 2016.
A substantial mortgage on the property remains unpaid since her disappearance and has amassed default interest penalties.
The Grimleys claim they had an agreement with Caddick to be able to live in the Edgecliff apartment rent-free for the rest of their lives.
They have also claimed they have a 37 per cent interest in the property as they gave their daughter $1.1million to pay down the mortgage.
Barb and Ted Grimley have been engaged in an ongoing legal battle with court-appointed receivers over Caddick’s Edgecliff property
The court has previously heard that Caddick spent her parents’ funds maintaining her own extravagant lifestyle.
Newlinds wants the receivers to pay the interest on the mortgage from January when the Dover Heights property sold for $9.8million.
Vanessa Whittaker, SC, representing the receivers, told the court that since that application was granted to pay down the Edgecliff mortgage, affected investors in Caddick’s scheme had joined forces to have their interests heard.
Last month, Nicholas Owens, SC, made a surprise appearance in the ongoing matter, telling the Federal Court that the group, which is being represented by ‘Investor A’, is contesting the Grimleys’ claim that they should be favoured.
The investor group has indicated that they will equally share whatever funds are accumulated from Caddick’s estate.
Melissa Caddick pictured in her home during a raid in 2020
Whittaker told the court that it had become ‘very apparent … that a very serious dispute exists’ between the Grimleys and the other investors about whether or not the Edgecliff mortgage should be paid from the Dover Heights proceeds.
The matter will return to court next week, with the parties telling the judge they are hopeful of a breakthrough at a mediation to be held on Wednesday.
The findings of a coronial inquest, which were due to be handed down this week, have been delayed until May 25.
The corporate watchdog said Caddick misappropriated investor money to fund her lavish lifestyle, with investigators seizing luxury items including jewellery, watches, designer clothing and shoes from her property.
She was declared dead four months after her disappearance in February, 2021 when a decaying foot was found on a beach.
Since her disappearance, Jones Partners have unveiled the extent of the conwoman’s scam.