Melissa Caddick: Owners of Dover Heights Mansion say they didn’t know it was owned by the fraudster

The new owners of Melissa Caddick’s mansion claimed they had no idea it ever belonged to the fraudster, with one strange change already noticed on the property.

Caddick’s mansion in Dover Heights, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, was snatched for $9.8 million nearly two years after the conwoman’s disappearance in November 2020.

Proceeds from the sale will go toward paying back the alleged $23 million she stole from investors, including friends and family, through her Ponzi scheme.

Proceeds from the sale of the property will be used to pay back the alleged $23 million that Caddick stole from investors

Property records indicate that Tongna He purchased the property in October.

According to records, he is from the eastern suburbs and is a retired businessman.

A man and woman were spotted outside the mansion earlier this week after recently moving in.

The woman revealed that the couple had no idea about the history behind the house.

“We have only just moved in. We didn’t really know about the house (its history) until we bought it,” she said The Sunday Telegraph.

“In the end, it’s just a house for us.”

A new addition has already been spotted at the property, with a bag of peppers mysteriously tied to the front door.

It is not known whether it was put there by the inhabitants or not.

In certain cultures, peppers are placed in a part of a house to drive away evil spirits from a house.

They are also used to ward off the evil eye – a superstitious belief that if someone glared at them with feelings of disgust or envy, bad luck will come to someone.

Earlier this month, Caddick’s victims reached an agreement in Federal Court on how they would divide the fraudster’s estate

The group has also tried to block Caddick’s parents Barbara and Ted Grimley.

The couple want to use some of the estate’s money to pay off the mortgage on an East Sydney apartment their daughter bought on their behalf.

Vanessa Whittaker, who represents the trustees responsible for liquidating the 49-year-old’s estate, told the court that the “overwhelming majority” of investors had agreed to distribute the funds on an equal pro-rata basis.

A bag of peppers was seen tied to the front door of the former conwoman’s home. In some cultures, peppers are placed in a part of a house to drive away evil spirits (stock image)

Melissa Caddick with her husband Anthony Koletti, who was forced to leave her home in Dover Heights when it was put up for sale

The agreement avoids a lengthy legal battle between those who felt they should have been given priority over the estate’s funds.

“The result is that the out-of-pocket investors, the vast majority … have informed the trustees that they agree with a pari-passu approach (at par or at par),” Ms. Whittaker.

She told the court that 54 of the 55 investors had agreed to the “fair” process drafted by trustees, while the latter simply did not respond.

The move comes a month after Judge Brigitte Markovic warned there was a “dwindling amount of money” that should not be squandered on legal fees.

More than $23 million is still owed to investors in Caddick’s financial services company Maliver, which the Australian Securities and Investments Commission claims was an elaborate Ponzi scheme.

Caddick disappeared from her home in Dover Heights in November 2020, a day after ASIC and NSW Police raided the property.

The corporate watchdog says Caddick embezzled money from investors to fund her lavish lifestyle, with investigators seizing luxury items including jewelry, watches, designer clothes and shoes.

She was pronounced dead four months after her disappearance in February 2021 when a rotting foot was found on Bournda beach, 400 km south of Sydney.

An ongoing corona investigation is trying to determine the cause and manner of her presumed death, with findings expected to be handed over in April.

Caddick’s remains were found three months after her disappearance on Bournda beach (pictured).