Victims of notorious fraudster Melissa Caddick have received their biggest chunk of compensation to date, with liquidators confident there will be more to come.
Swindled investors should be paid $4.25 million within days, Federal Court Justice Brigitte Markovic ruled on Wednesday.
It is the second court-enforced distribution of Caddick’s assets after liquidators recouped $3 million of the dead fraudster’s money for a payment made in 2023.
Her luxury penthouse was sold in March for about $5 million, less than the $5.5 million asking price for the apartment in Sydney’s well-heeled eastern suburbs.
But the combined $7.25 million paid to victims represents a fraction of the money she stole.
Caddick, a self-styled financial adviser, plundered $23 million from family and friends via an investment scam to live a life of luxury.
Bruce Gleeson, from liquidators Jones Partners, said investors would receive payment soon, taking the amount recovered to about 32 cents in the dollar.
“We are also making significant progress regarding recovery of tax refunds regarding the company operated by Ms Caddick … and we will shortly be issuing a further update regarding the distributions we anticipate making to investors from this source,” he told AAP.
“It remains important for us to get the best possible return to investors from this Ponzi scheme.”
The $3 million previously paid to investors followed the sale of her share portfolio and Dover Heights clifftop mansion.
The 49-year-old disappeared in November 2020, days after her luxury home was raided by ASIC agents investigating her Ponzi scheme.
Coroner Elizabeth Ryan in May 2023 ruled Caddick was dead, but she was unable to determine the cause because most of her body had not been found.
The fraudster’s badly decomposed right foot, which was still attached to a running shoe, washed up on a beach on the south coast of NSW in February 2021.
Caddick’s husband Anthony Koletti was the last person to see her alive and declared her missing.
He withheld information relating to his wife’s disappearance and could not be ruled out from being involved, the coroner found.
