The legal battle between the parents of missing fraudster Melissa Caddick and the victims who defrauded their daughter with money from her estate threatens to reach new heights.
Caddick’s elderly parents, Barb and Ted Grimley, foreshadowed legal action against Jones Partners, the court-appointed trustees handling Caddick’s estate.
Caddick disappeared in November 2020, just hours after her home was raided by corporate regulator ASIC over an elaborate Ponzi scheme she had been carrying out.
In February 2021, the then 49-year-old’s partial remains washed up on a remote beach south of Tathra, on the south coast of New South Wales.
Melissa Caddick disappeared in November 2020, just hours after her home was raided by corporate regulator ASIC in connection with an elaborate Ponzi scheme she had been carrying out
Barrister Robert Newlinds, SC, representing the Grimleys, told the Federal Court Friday that his clients want the trustees to pay the interest on his client’s Edgecliff apartment mortgage, The age has revealed.
He said this was because the trustees, Bruce Gleeson and Daniel Soire of Jones Partners, failed to comply with an earlier court order.
Last July, Judge Brigitte Markovic granted the trustees’ request to use money from the sale of Caddick’s home in Dover Heights to pay off the mortgage on an apartment in Edgecliff.
The trustees are embroiled in an ongoing battle with the Grimleys over the Edgecliff estate, which was bought by Caddick in 2016 with stolen money for $2.55 million.
A sizable mortgage on the property has gone unpaid since her disappearance and has resulted in late interest penalties.
The Grimleys claim they had an agreement with Caddick to live rent-free in the Edgecliff apartment for the rest of their lives.
They have also claimed to have a 37 percent stake in the property as they gave their daughter $1.1 million to pay off the mortgage.
Barb and Ted Grimley are involved in an ongoing legal battle with court-appointed trustees over ownership of Caddick’s Edgecliff
The court has previously learned that Caddick spent her parents’ money to maintain her own lavish lifestyle.
Newlinds wants the trustees to pay interest on the mortgage starting in January, when the Dover Heights property was sold for $9.8 million.
Vanessa Whittaker, SC, representing the trustees, told the court that since that request to pay off the Edgecliff mortgage was granted, the investors involved in Caddick’s plan had joined forces to make their interests heard.
Last month, Nicholas Owens, SC, made a surprise appearance in the pending case, telling the Federal Court that the group, represented by “Investor A,” is challenging the Grimleys’ claim that they are preferable.
The investor group has indicated that they will share equally any funds collected from Caddick’s estate.
Melissa Caddick photographed in her home during a 2020 raid
Whittaker told the court it had become “very clear … that there is a very serious dispute” between the Grimleys and the other investors over whether or not to pay the Edgecliff mortgage out of the Dover Heights proceeds.
The case will return to court next week, with the parties telling the judge they hope for a breakthrough in a mediation that will take place on Wednesday.
The findings of a corona study, which was due to be handed over this week, have been postponed to May 25.
The corporate watchdog said Caddick embezzled money from investors to fund her lavish lifestyle, with investigators seizing luxury items including jewelry, watches, designer clothes and shoes from her property.
She was pronounced dead four months after her disappearance in February 2021 when a rotting foot was found on a beach.
Since her disappearance, Jones Partners has revealed the extent of the scammer’s scam.