On 15 December 2020, following a successful ASIC application, the Federal Court ordered the appointment of receivers to the property of Melissa Louise Caddick (Ms Caddick) and provisional liquidators to Maliver Pty Ltd (Maliver).
The application arose from ASIC’s concerns, which included:
- Maliver may be providing financial services without an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL);
- the AFSL of another company may have been used without authorisation;
- investor funds may have been unlawfully dealt with.
Bruce Gleeson and Daniel Robert Soire of Jones Partners were appointed as receivers of the property of Ms Caddick. Justice Markovic ordered that the receivers, by 15 February 2021, provide to the Court and ASIC a report that includes:
- the assets and liabilities of Ms Caddick;
- an opinion as to the solvency of Ms Caddick;
- the amount of money received by Ms Caddick from funds paid to Maliver by investors for investment;
- any investor funds held by Ms Caddick, any property acquired by Ms Caddick with investor funds and any payments made by Ms Caddick to third parties with investor funds and any other dealings by Ms Caddick with investor funds;
- any money paid directly to Ms Caddick by investors for investment and any property acquired, any payments made and any other dealings, by Ms Caddick with such money; and
- the receivers’ remuneration, costs and expenses.
Bruce Gleeson and Daniel Robert Soire of Jones Partners were also appointed as provisional liquidators to Maliver. Justice Markovic ordered that the provisional liquidators, by 15 February 2021, provide to the Court and ASIC a report that includes:
- persons who have paid money to Maliver for investment, the amounts they invested, and whether, and to what extent, these amounts have been repaid;
- identification of any bank accounts in which investor funds are held, any Property acquired with investor funds or any other dealings with investor funds;
- identification of Maliver’s assets and liabilities;
- an opinion as to the solvency of Maliver;
- an opinion as to whether Maliver has proper financial records;
- an opinion as to the claims that may be available to the liquidators for the recovery of funds for the benefit of creditors;
- the likely return to creditors;
- any other information necessary to enable the financial position of Maliver to be assessed;
- an opinion as to whether Maliver has contravened any provisions of the Act and/or any other legislation; and
- any suspected contraventions of the Act by any directors or officers of Maliver.
On 17 December 2020 the matter was further heard and remaining Orders finalised.
ASIC’s investigation is ongoing. The matter is next before the Court on 22 February 2021.
