Australia’s corporate watchdog is going to drop all charges tomorrow against con artist Melissa Caddick, whose rotting foot was found on a NSW beach last month.
Last week the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) loaded up the 49-year-old Eastern Suburbs fraudster with 38 new charges.
However the ASIC confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that it is planning to drop all charges on Tuesday, and has already withdrawn the warrant for her arrest.
ASIC will drop all charges against Melissa Caddick (pictured above) tomorrow morning although there is not yet any official confirmation that she is dead
Caddick, who allegedly defrauded more than $25 million from scores of people including friends and family, vanished the day after ASIC raided her luxury $6.1million home in wealthy Dover Heights, Sydney, on November 11.
There is no official confirmation the missing fraudster is actually dead, however her decomposing foot washed up in a shoe on a South Coast beach on February 21.
The foot was confirmed to be Caddicks after a DNA match was made with material from Caddick’s toothbrush.
Caddick’s decomposed foot in a rare Asics shoe was found 400km away from her home on Bournda Beach on February 21
Ulladulla SES members scoured nearby coastline after Caddick’s foot was found washed up
Caddick (centre) splurged $63,000 on holidays to Fiji, $37,000 on a trip to New York as well as $120,000 on several skiing trips to Aspen. Pictured with her husband Anthony (right), who is not accused of wrongdoing
The 400km-plus journey taken by the shoe that was found to contain Caddick’s foot
The ASIC will appear at Downing Centre Local Court, Sydney, to officially withdraw the charges subject of the arrest warrant tomorrow morning.
The commission would not reveal whether this is confirmation that Caddick is definitely dead.
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‘It is not for ASIC to determine if, or speculate on whether, Ms Caddick is alive. That is a matter for the NSW Police and – should it come to that – a coroner,’ a spokesman previously said.
The search for Caddick’s missing millions will continue in a separate action filed in the Federal Court in a two-day hearing next week.
Liquidators will be appointed to administer her accounts and those of her company, Maliver Pty Ltd, giving devastated victims an avenue to seek to recover some of their funds.
Documents filed last week by ASIC revealed the extent of Caddick’s crimes while she ran Maliver, the unlicensed investment firm.
Caddick blew her victim’s money on luxury items and lavish overseas trips with the authorities confiscating high end fashion label handbags, shoes and clothes during the raid.
A lack of credible witnesses and an absence of CCTV footage means her disappearance may never be solved.
More than 50 possible sightings were reported to NSW Police in the weeks after her disappearance but none were solid leads.
Melissa Caddick (centre) posing for a photo with clients. She conned more than $25 million out of dozens of investors including friends and family before disappearing
Two forensic experts have raised a theory that Caddick may have died elsewhere before being moved closer to Bournda beach, where her foot and trainer were discovered.
The south coast beach is more than 400km from where Caddick was last seen at her lavish Dover Heights home in Sydney.
‘That is remarkable but it can happen,’ said Professor John Hilton, a forensic pathologist said.
Authorities raided her $6.1million Dover Heights mansion on November 11. The next day she disappeared. Pictured: bodycam footage of the raid
Divers stopped looking for the remains of the 49-year-old financial adviser after searching over 6,000sq/m in the water off Dover Heights in Sydney’s east
Earlier this month, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said authorities were unable to say whether she killed herself or if there was foul play involved.
He also raised the possibility Ms Caddick could have severed her own foot to throw police off the scent – and that she could still be alive.
‘There’s always a chance she cut her foot off and is still alive, though it’s pretty fanciful,’ he told 2GB on March 8.
Caddick, pictured with her husband Anthony who is not accused of wrongdoing
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has previously said he is satisfied she is dead, however the coroner will decide
However, he said he was satisfied the 49-year-old millionaire was dead.
One theory to explain her disappearance has been that Caddick jumped from the Dover Heights clifftops after making the short 300m walk from her home.
The route is not covered by CCTV cameras and led police to initially suspect she had taken her own life.
But Mr Fuller said many people jumped from those cliffs without their remains washing up several hundred kilometers away.
‘[It’s not common to see] body parts wash up so far south of Sydney and in such good condition given she went missing on or about November 11,’ he said.
‘Not to say it can’t happen. The coroner will make further determinations.’
He said the limited decomposition of the shoe would indicate it had not been out in the ocean for the entire three-month period since she went missing.
