ANTHONY_MARCUS_KOLETTI BRUCE_GLEESON HILTON_WOLFE JODI_BLANCHFIELD KATE_HORN KATE_McCLYMONT MALE_VOICE MICHAEL_MICHAEL POLICE_OFFICER PRODUCER ROBBIE_HIGGENSON UNIDENTIFIED UNIDENTIFIED_MALE VANESSA_DUCKWORTH ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI My full name is Anthony Marcus Koletti ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Melissa�s the love of my life She�s a very beautiful person Very loving and caring This was probably one of my fondest memories when I walked into our bathroom and found that she�d written a love letter on the mirror in lipstick A very beautiful thing that she did ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI I loved the times when we were doing nothing, when we were just in each other�s company, not having to talk Just � just being with each other ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI On the th of November I woke up in the morning, am I went upstairs to the gym and Melissa�s son was there I said to him, �Do you know where your mum is?� He said something to the effect of, �She's gone for a � a run� Melissa�s phone was in her walk-in wardrobe and I thought it was a little bit strange that she didn�t take her phone I was under the belief that, you know, she was somewhere, but I just didn�t know where POLICE OFFICER What was your name, sorry? ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Anthony Koletti POLICE OFFICER Anthony Right So, we're just from Waverley Police Station ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI So this is what we have so far POLICE OFFICER Is that her phone? ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Yes POLICE OFFICER Okay ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI So, she's gone out with nothing, like no keys, and like no money, no nothing I think she's in, uh, black gym clothes and she would've had silver Asics on ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI That was really it That�s all I really knew ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Thank you for coming down POLICE OFFICER Yeah, not a problem We�ll talk to you soon ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Yeah, thank you ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI I just kept on going in my own searches Like, I would keep going for walks I would go for drives I didn�t stop KATE McCLYMONT Dover Heights is one of the richest suburbs in the entire country in which to live Malcolm Turnbull, the former prime minister lives in the area Melissa Caddick has been reported missing in Dover Heights It's hard to describe just how big this story was It was similar to the Madeleine McCann disappearance Because for a woman to go missing from that area is very rare People became really invested; where was she? What's happened? KATE McCLYMONT So, seven days since police were notified, they�re stuck So they have a press conference KATE McCLYMONT My colleagues, we were actually standing at my desk to all watch the press conference together KATE McCLYMONT The first thing I did after watching this was turn to my colleagues and say �There is something that does not add up here� �Everything�s taken care of, you're not in trouble�, nothing could be further from the truth KATE McCLYMONT Because, by then, I knew that Melissa Caddick was in serious trouble And he knew it KATE McCLYMONT A few days earlier I get a tip-off that a very prominent businessman was the subject of insider trading allegations And that there�d been a raid at his premises So, I rang the Australian Federal Police and they said �Do you mean the search warrants at Wallangra Road, Dover Heights?� I said �Oh, who�s at Wallangra Road?� and they said �Oh some woman, err, a Melissa Caddick� I started to investigate MALE VOICE Hi JODI BLANCHFIELD Hi JODI BLANCHFIELD How are you? MALE VOICE Good How are you? JODI BLANCHFIELD Not too bad This is Lugarno This is where Melissa grew up It�s sort of like stepping back in time Like, it hasn�t changed very much at all The garage is this one down here where the brown wooden door is You've got a set of stairs that go down You have like a little courtyard and that opened up out to a patio out the back You were always welcome You know when you walk into someone�s house if it's a joyful place and there's love in the house And I would say that there was love in this house Yeah Most definitely JODI BLANCHFIELD We all ended up at high school together and we all sort of knew each other and knew our families and stuff and knew what was going on You know, we were girls, we were into our fashion, and going shopping, going out and having a good time JODI BLANCHFIELD Just the fun person that she was Like, she was a blast to be around She used to make me laugh all the time I'm just remembering those stairs, they were a killer after a hangover I would've trusted Melissa with my life JODI BLANCHFIELD Melissa was ambitious, she went into her own business And I think she did really well for herself KATE McCLYMONT She was describing herself as a financial advisor By she's got more than clients In some magazine she�d given her golden rules for what you looked for in an investment advisor KATE McCLYMONT In mid- Melissa Caddick sets up a financial services vehicle called Maliver Proprietary Limited KATE McCLYMONT Her mission statement is �I'm rich and that�s why I now have the time and the inclination to help you achieve perhaps not the same level as wealth as myself, but I will help you get there� KATE HORN My name is Kate Horn I was a single mum, and Melissa was interested in assisting single mums to invest, and I became her client I was quite frankly grateful for a little bit of support I was a registered nurse for about years I didn�t have much of a social life and I lived a pretty frugal lifestyle I really only ever had one goal and that was to get in a position where I was able to help my children buy their own home when they were older Melissa made it perfectly clear that I was in a position to achieve a comfortable retirement and help my children And I remember thinking �How lucky am I?� KATE McCLYMONT According to her clients Melissa was seen as a top notch financial advisor Melissa is living in a mansion in a wealthy suburb A Mercedes Benz, an Audi convertible Always decked out in Dior, Chanel, you know, the beautiful jewellery She was a very successful businesswoman I'm just thinking �Why were authorities interested in this woman?� ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Around am I was feeding the dogs ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI And something was wrong Melissa said �Oh Anthony, can you come upstairs?� ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI I've come upstairs and there's a whole bunch of federal police I was very shocked, I was like �What � what is this, a drug bust or something?� It's like �Really?� Like I'd no idea what they were doing there, I'd � we got read a search warrant ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Expensive items were being removed from the house PRODUCER How did Melissa explain to you what was going on? ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI She didn�t explain to me anything that was going on I had just assumed that they'd made a mistake and that everything would go back to normal And that would be that That�s what I thought I trusted my wife % KATE McCLYMONT Investors, family and friends, they think Melissa herself had done anything wrong The Melissa they knew couldn�t have done anything wrong There's been a dreadful misunderstanding So I start making inquiries And the story takes a dramatic twist I discover she's under investigation for a major fraud worth tens of millions of dollars ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI There was a degree of going out and actively searching Mainly around the spots that we liked to go I would take my car Because she would notice my car, she�d hear my car The music that I was playing she knows, and she would think �Oh�, you know, �There's Anthony� So, I'm really frantic at that point JODI BLANCHFIELD I can just imagine the emotion that was flowing through him, and for her son And I was just hoping that maybe she�d just gone somewhere to clear her head ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI I also had to keep myself very stable, trying to make sure that Melissa�s son wasn't concerned There's a lot of conflicting things happening in your mind On top of that, I�m a hairdresser by trade I couldn�t work because of Covid I had to support a young child and I had no money Most of my money went to her bank accounts for bills Melissa�s bank accounts were frozen to stop her from, they said, moving her money offshore or something like that I'm just thinking �I don�t really understand what's happened� BRUCE GLEESON Melissa presented herself as a financial planner She would be providing investment advice to individuals investing through their retirement fund or a pension fund But In mid- there was a complaint made with the Australian regulator which is ASIC There was a suspicion that Melissa Caddick and her company, Maliver Proprietary Limited, might be operating without an Australian financial services licence VANESSA DUCKWORTH ASIC provide us a number of documents including bank statements We started reviewing everything Very quickly we confirmed that she was operating without a proper licence It�s a criminal offence Alarm bells were rang at that stage BRUCE GLEESON In she established Maliver Proprietary Limited VANESSA DUCKWORTH So these are files for each investor BRUCE GLEESON There were to investors They�ll give the monies to Maliver VANESSA DUCKWORTH These three deposits on the st of July from investors in amounts of nearly $m BRUCE GLEESON Melissa said Maliver would then set up a Commsec trading account in the investor�s name VANESSA DUCKWORTH Commsec is a share trading platform where you actively trade shares VANESSA DUCKWORTH There were thousands of files, but we managed to find a number of spreadsheets of interest The documents Melissa had been sending to the investors So, to someone who hadn�t had a Commsec account before, this looked quite legitimate BRUCE GLEESON But in fact, if you actually looked at the statement compared to a proper statement, you would identify certain irregularities VANESSA DUCKWORTH The headers and the footers had been copied and pasted, but the main difference between the two was the account number In this dummy one that Commsec provided is seven digits, however in the ones that were provided to investors there were only six digits BRUCE GLEESON Nothing in the statements was real The account in the investor�s name never existed VANESSA DUCKWORTH The next question was; where was the money going? VANESSA DUCKWORTH Thank you VANESSA DUCKWORTH So following the money through, there was a number of transactions going out of the company�s bank accounts once the investor monies had been deposited VANESSA DUCKWORTH In this circumstance the withdrawal of the funds from investors was going to Melissa�s personal account And you'll see there the credit of million coming in So, and what was she spending it on? This month $, went to Canturi to purchase just one item Stella Shoes , Christian Dior for $, Flight Centre $, She�d pay to stay at a ski lodge every year in Aspen UNIDENTIFIED MALE Yes we found a wild Melissa They seem to like diving into the snow VANESSA DUCKWORTH In two weeks Melissa had spent $, on personal expenses, luxury items Really nice holidays This isn�t an uncommon instance This was littered throughout all her credit cards and other bank, personal bank accounts BRUCE GLEESON This was going back to VANESSA DUCKWORTH To see it on paper was, it was quite astonishing KATE McCLYMONT Okay, wow There is really something here By now, I�ve heard from authorities that we�re looking at anywhere between and million is missing Using this information, I write a story, it appears in the paper Saturday the th of December KATE McCLYMONT She's the con artist of the century I think we have four million unique readers And the story absolutely blew up ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Con artist of the century KATE HORN Con artist of the century JODI BLANCHFIELD Melissa Caddick, con woman of the century It was like �What the?� ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI I was angry because, let�s just say she's sitting there watching �con woman of the century� D�you think she's gonna wanna come home mate? No KATE HORN Saturday morning, December the th and I went Oh, my goodness me I thought maybe, just maybe she couldn�t possibly do it to me as well, just maybe And I checked my Commsec accounts and I just went �Oh, yeah, she has � I � I�, erm, um, it was an unbelievable thing Because I wasn't just one of Melissa�s clients, I was one of her closest childhood friends KATE HORN She lived a few doors up from me as very young girls We were entwined with one another She was at my wedding Melissa came to visit me in the hospital after I had my first baby And visa versa, I was at her milestones as well There was trust that came with the longevity of our friendship But she had been stealing everything that I'd contributed from the beginning to the end and had no intention of investing any of it JODI BLANCHFIELD I was shocked Dumbfounded, and you could've probably scraped me off the floor I'm going no, no, this can�t be true The Melissa that I knew, she had integrity And then it just got worse and worse and worse KATE HORN It wasn't just me that invested my life savings with Melissa It was my entire family�s life savings as well Several family members, several millions of dollars, collectively I then discovered that it wasn't just my family affected, it was also Melissa�s entire network of family and friends Cousins, aunties, other friends, her brother�s friends, close friends of others as well UNIDENTIFIED Her parents and her brother were apparently among investors that have lost an awful lot of money in this VANESSA DUCKWORTH These people were not billionaires, they were day to day people who had invested their life savings with Melissa Effectively their pension that they�d saved all their life for KATE HORN All up over the years in total she stole about $m of everybody�s life savings And we're all basically completely ruined VANESSA DUCKWORTH That�s heart-breaking KATE McCLYMONT It was, you know, devastating KATE HORN The word I would use was � would be too painful, I � but I don�t know how you � if you � I can say distasteful PRODUCER What d'you mean, painful? KATE HORN I find it too painful to talk about what she's done, I find that really erm, [Pause] hm, erm BRUCE GLEESON Way back before the creation of Maliver Proprietary Limited, in the early s there was an article which featured Melissa Saying she was heavily involved in the success of a company called Wise Financial As part of that success she was one of the, the rising stars within it In reality, the truth was said to be a lot different HILTON WOLFE I was a financial planner in South Africa and in the early s when I arrived in Australia I asked somebody to come and show me the way that they do things in Australia Well, this lady arrived at the offices, Melissa Caddick introduced herself She was very, very well dressed Tell me how good she was She was a top financial planner in a very large institution She stood up, she clapped her hands and said �let�s go and make money� And I was taken aback because that�s not the comment you make when financial planners go and meet their clients But I let it go PRODUCER What, what is that on the screen? HILTON WOLFE So, these are shares that I'm trading on behalf of particular clients This is what Melissa Caddick would have done for her clients Well, we met the client The client was going to invest , In order for you to do the work you've got to earn something So, there�s the fee for service or commission It was gonna be fee for service It was $, fee for service That means that she is not entitled to commission And I was monitoring this particular investment and the percentage growth just wasn�t happening in the investment And I thought to myself what�s going on here? HILTON WOLFE Now, here�s the application And when I picked it up there it was, I noticed something really shocking You can see over here where she was supposed to get no commission, she had changed it So that she�d earn full commission as well It�s simple fraud Needless to say I phoned her She said to me �oh, that�s very strange My secretary has made a very big error here� And she apologised most profusely And said she will have it corrected And I never saw her again PRODUCER Did you go to the police? HILTON WOLFE No You don�t go to the�in those days everybody just moved on It was a very good investment This is, it�s done very well So, it wasn�t as if she didn�t know what she was doing She did know what she was doing But she was a crook That, she was a fraudster That was years ago It took years for her to become a bigger thief and steal much more money KATE McCLYMONT We have a Sydney businesswoman who�s gone missing, and a multi-multimillion dollar fraud It was a major story, but when it came out, I could never have imagined the impact this article would make KATE McCLYMONT Very quickly social media went crazy What kind of person does that? People now saw Melissa Caddick as an evil, evil person People could not get enough of this story ROBBIE HIGGENSON I was at work and �Con Artist of the Century�, come up �Melissa Caddick may have misappropriated between million and $m� So, I thought �Far out, white collar crime� I wanted more information, so I just typed in Melissa Caddick and bam I jumped on the Facebook group, Melissa Caddick and the Missing Millions MICHAEL MICHAEL My name is Michael Michael, and that�s my Facebook name I basically provide an ironing service for wealthy socialites In between ironing I've got the internet on Melissa would be my ideal customer When I saw the news item on TV that Melissa had disappeared And I thought �How could a woman just disappear? This is not possible� So I had a look on Facebook for a discussion group and found open dialogue about her Where is she? What happened to her? Why did she disappear? The primary function of this discussion group was to find Melissa, and I thought this is my little project now [Laughs] KATE McCLYMONT People had sightings of her on boats On planes All round Australia The police were run off their feet trying to chase down the leads, look at these sightings to find out exactly where Melissa Caddick was And people were discussing their own theories as well ROBBIE HIGGENSON I believed that she's escaped the country Obviously these fraudsters, they have a �shit hits the fan� escape plan So, obviously she had accomplices ROBBIE HIGGENSON And I think Melissa Caddick�s husband is hiding something ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Melissa and I met at a hairdressing salon in Bondi Junction, I did her hair She was married at that time, she was pregnant, and she had her son a little bit later on But I really enjoyed being around Melissa Then , she invited me for lunch and we discovered that we had the same birthday and that we went to the same school We had a very good connection She would tell me she was having problems in, in her relationship ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI She certainly wasn�t happy in her marriage As we were saying goodbye we just had a kiss Sparks, the chemistry sort of ignited But, she went away to the UK with her family I, I think a couple of days after that The beginning of , Melissa split up with her husband So, Melissa and her son came back to, to live in Sydney I just helped support her, from what I saw of Melissa and her ex-husband divorce it was very hard You know, I, I kind of took on more of a � a father figure role for Melissa�s son We were living together I found her very funny and open, and she was always herself around me Always very loyal and very giving and we had a, an incredible close loving relationship Yeah I wasn't with Melissa for money, for a car, for living in a nice house I just loved her ROBBIE HIGGENSON That is total bullshit I'm � I'm sorry but it is I mean who�s gonna believe that? In my opinion she was a sugar mama, and Anthony, he's the toyboy ROBBIE HIGGENSON When I saw the press conference I thought �The suspicion lands with Anthony� ROBBIE HIGGENSON Right, okay ROBBIE HIGGENSON That is bizarre She�s ripped off $ million and he says �come home, you're not in trouble� What a crock of shit ROBBIE HIGGENSON I mean, seriously ASIC have been in the house hours Taking everything Left her with one dress And everything�s normal? He�s not behaving like a normal husband would whose wife has just gone missing If my missus went missing I�d be beside myself KATE McCLYMONT Her brother, Adam Grimley, then said a few words KATE McCLYMONT He could barely keep himself together KATE McCLYMONT You can see him struggling to actually get the words out But, Anthony Koletti, he showed no affect, he was very calm It was just odd That�s when he became the subject of a lot of speculation ROBBIE HIGGENSON See, he�s not even meeting Gretchen�s expectations And I think she�s got low expectations in this case Normally if your wife goes missing, you'll be ringing the coppers �Are there any new leads?� Mr Koletti decides no, he�ll let New South Wales Police come to him It just rings alarm bells you know And I think Anthony helped her get away MICHAEL MICHAEL Late at night I�d have a look at, you know, all the Australian press My opinion, from what I've seen from the video and everything that I read, just reading his body language, I don�t believe he's trustworthy As lovers, husband and wife, they'd cover for each other KATE HORN Anthony Koletti was the toyboy, malleable that she could influence, that she could control and get to do things for her She certainly wore the pants always from the very beginning She made the decisions, he follows KATE McCLYMONT The theories at this point, we can't rule anything out It was possible that Melissa was hiding somewhere KATE McCLYMONT And that Anthony was a suspect in her disappearance KATE McCLYMONT Because soon after she goes missing we discovered that Anthony Koletti had not reported his wife missing until hours after she disappeared KATE McCLYMONT hours? hours, I mean who does that? JODI BLANCHFIELD There�s a good possibility in that hours Anthony either helped her escape or took her somewhere ROBBIE HIGGENSON What were you covering up? You know ROBBIE HIGGENSON We're going to Melissa Caddick�s house, it's like Elvis�s mansion to me, it's gonna become a tourist attraction Wanted to come and see her exit route Okay if I'm Melissa Caddick where do I go? Lots of CCTV cameras, so, let�s go left There's no CCTV on this house My gut feel that she came this way No CCTV cameras around here at all Rightyo, Melissa�s here, in the morning, no streetlights, be the perfect place to be picked up, out of, you know, prying eyes ROBBIE HIGGENSON This neighbourhood�s like a morgue really MICHAEL MICHAEL The closest marina is Rose Bay In the darkness of the night, with a little bit of money, she could've convinced someone to take her up the coast The time that she disappeared we had lockdown So we were wearing face masks; disguise She would have offshore accounts, and I think Anthony is % covering for Melissa VANESSA DUCKWORTH So ASIC present evidence of a criminal offence to the Federal Court A three day hearing is heard in June � and in November the decision was finalised Yes, start finding some of these assets VANESSA DUCKWORTH Thank you VANESSA DUCKWORTH We identified two properties The Dover Heights property and then another property in Edgecliff where her parents resided There were two cars in the company name There was the Audi and the Mercedes Commonwealth bank of Australia got back to us Melissa held an international and domestic share portfolio The combined value of both portfolios was over $ million The other assets in Melissa�s name that we were aware of had been obtained by ASIC Which is luxury and designer items And high end designer jewellery VANESSA DUCKWORTH At that stage we�d identified assets worth north of about $m Really good to see, we could actually see where this money potentially had gone BRUCE GLEESON The goal is to get as much as we possibly can back for her investors KATE HORN When I compare myself now to her lifestyle KATE HORN I think oh my goodness I was paying for that Everything has changed My mum, it's hurt her terribly and it has altered her life You know, I can't help my kids now, like not in the way that I anticipated I have lost around half a million dollars Everything has changed Everything KATE McCLYMONT However, it wasn't simple for investors to get their money back KATE McCLYMONT Everyone wanted to know where the hell is Melissa Caddick hiding out? The police, they had nothing But what we didn�t know at the time was there was a massive twist just round the corner KATE McCLYMONT On the morning, people were ringing �What's happening? Have you heard this? Have you heard that? Has she walked in? KATE HORN Somebody called out �Something�s coming on, come and have a look� KATE HORN And I thought oh fabulous [Laughs] They�ve found her JODI BLANCHFIELD Wow KATE McCLYMONT Wow What the hell is going on? ROBBIE HIGGENSON I got butterflies with that one Yeah JODI BLANCHFIELD It's actually upsetting KATE McCLYMONT This was monumental How? Why? You know, where was the rest of her body? How did it get there? It was just uproar KATE McCLYMONT Immediately after the press conference we think she�s dead The story is solved, it�s over Only to find that it was only just beginning 2 The Missing Millionairess � Episode 2 Post-production script prepared by So Speedy wwwsospeedycouk