Victims of Sydney conwoman Melissa Caddick have made a fresh attempt at clawing back some of their lost money with a class action against several of her auditors.
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Law firm Mackay Chapman has filed the class action in the Federal Court on behalf of 24 of Caddick's defrauded investors.
The case was taken against some of the auditors engaged by Caddick to conduct annual audits of her client's self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs).
It alleges auditors failed in their duties and were negligent, engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct, breached their contract and breached the Corporations Act.
The investors' suit also claims auditors failed to identify fraudulent documents prepared by Caddick and failed to confirm the shares held in her clients' superannuation funds existed.
Caddick, a self-styled financial adviser, lived a life of luxury on the back of about $23 million stolen mostly from family and friends via an investment scam.
Investors provided funds to Caddick, believing they were being invested in ASX-listed equities using CommSec accounts.
Instead, their "investments" never existed and the money was fraudulently used by Caddick to fund her lavish lifestyle.
Most victims invested through their self-managed super funds, which were required to be audited annually.
In a statement, Mackay Chapman said Caddick engaged at least five auditors between 2012 and 2020.
"The auditors all provided audit reports that, in effect, gave the SMSFs a clean bill of health," the firm said.
"We now know that the financial reports reviewed by the auditors were supported by fraudulent documentation prepared by Ms Caddick and the assets said to be held by the SMSFs did not exist."
Days after her Sydney eastern suburbs home was raided by ASIC to uncover her suspected Ponzi scheme, 49-year-old Caddick disappeared in November 2020.
Three months later her severed foot washed up on a beach on the south coast of NSW.
A coroner determined earlier in 2023 she was dead but failed to establish a definitive cause.
Defrauded investors have previously sought to gain back some of their lost funds through the sale of Caddick's million-dollar properties, jewellery, artwork and designer clothes.
Australian Associated Press
