Truth really is stranger than fiction in the case of  Melissa Caddick, known as Australia’s Bernie Madoff, who conned her victims out of £11.8 million (AU$23m/$14.8m). The financial advisor preyed on clients, family and friends to steal a fortune to fund her lavish lifestyle, which included art, jewellery and clothes, as well as a luxurious Sydney mansion and a plush penthouse, which is due to go under the hammer in October. Yet, before the fraudster could face justice, she vanished, and a gruesome discovery was made months later... Click or scroll on to find out more.

From the outside, Melissa Caddick led a seemingly ordinary life. The 49-year-old resided in the Dover Heights suburb of Sydney with her husband Anthony Koletti and worked as a successful financial advisor. Yet below the surface, she was conducting an elaborate Ponzi scheme that's been compared to the crimes carried out by infamous American conman Bernie Madoff. The rouse came tumbling down in November 2020, when the Australian Federal Police and Australian Securities and Investments Commission raided her home. An inquiry later revealed that Caddick had defrauded 72 investors through her sham financial services business. Caddick reportedly used an associate's financial services license to conduct the scam. Anthony Koletti has denied any involvement in his wife’s crimes.

Hours after the raid in 2020 (pictured here), Caddick left her Sydney home and never returned. Three months later, a grizzly discovery was made on the South Coast of New South Wales – the fraudster's decomposing foot washed up on a beach, still encased in a running shoe. Following an inquest in May 2023, authorities concluded that Caddick was deceased, although it remains unclear how or when she died. While some believed she had amputated her own foot to evade the law, the coroner's inquest found that this was unlikely, especially as she had not made any contact with her son.

As the extent of her crimes has come to light, auctions of the conwoman's belongings have been held in an attempt to recoup money for redistribution among her victims. One of her most valuable assets, Caddick's plush penthouse is going under the hammer on 10 October with Richardson and Wrench Double Bay. It's reportedly hoped that the apartment in Edgecliff, New South Wales, which features sweeping views of Sydney Harbour, will go for over £2.3 million (AU$5m/$3.2m). Caddick is said to have snapped up the three-bedroom property for just over £1.3 million (AU$2.5m/$1.6m) back in 2016 for her parents, Barbara and Ted Grimley. 

However, the Grimleys didn't give up the apartment without a fight. Caddick's parents claimed that they paid over £517,000 (AU$1m/$644k) towards the penthouse's purchase in exchange for a third of the ownership. In June 2023, the protracted legal battle was finally settled in federal court. The receivers appointed to oversee the redistribution of Caddick's assets to her victims finalised an offer to pay the Grimleys £490,000 (AU$950k/$612k) to leave the property. They have waived their claim of ownership and accepted the deal. The Grimleys have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Bruce Gleeson, one of the court-appointed receivers overseeing Caddick's assets, revealed that the penthouse had been transformed in preparation for the auction. He told The Sydney Morning Herald that the residence had been "tired and run down". It's recently undergone a significant overhaul that included redecorating and the installation of new flooring and light fixtures throughout. Gleeson explained the gravity of the sale: “To see this receivership asset sold is really important because it means that we’re going to be able to make another significant return to investors, and that’s always been the focus for us … particularly when in a lot of Ponzi schemes there’s not a return to investors or a very small return”.

Another of Caddick's properties, the raided Dover Heights home she disappeared from, sold back in October 2022 for £5 million (AU$9.8m/$6.3m). £1.6 million (AU$3m/$1.9m) from the profits of the home's sale went to Caddick's victims. From the looks of things, the fraudster was certainly living the high life. The property features five bedrooms, four bathrooms and an array of luxury amenities including an alfresco dining area and a swimming pool.

Caddick created an impression of financial success that was integral to inspiring confidence in her clients, who included friends and family. Her lavish home, with its stunning views across the Sydney skyline, as well as her designer wardrobe, was central to this façade. An auction of Caddick's vast collection of art, jewellery and handbags was held in December 2022 and generated over £414,000 (AU$800k/$516k).

Following Caddick's disappearance in November 2020, her husband, Anthony Koletti, continued to live at the mansion. However, he was evicted from the residence in May 2022 when liquidators took possession of the property. Meanwhile, the mysterious tale of Australia's most infamous scam has unsurprisingly caught the attention of TV producers. The dramatic story has been turned into a three-part drama series, Vanishing Act, which details the fraudster's double life and subsequent disappearance. 

Read on to discover more mega-mansions funded by ill-gotten gains

Dripping in gold, decked out with opulent finishes or harbouring some seriously unusual extras, these flashy mansions were once home to mafia dons, fraudsters, drug lords or diabolical dictators, until the fateful day when their luck ran out. Bankrolled with the proceeds of their crime and corruption, prepare for your jaw to drop as we take a tour of some of the world's most infamous estates, all funded by ill-gotten gains. Click or scroll on for more...

Once hailed as America’s youngest self-made female millionaire aged 30 in 2014, Elizabeth Holmes is currently serving nine years and seven months in a federal women’s prison camp in Texas for fraud. She made millions from start-up Theranos, which claimed it had developed revolutionary technology that could conduct hundreds of health tests with just one drop of blood. By the time it was revealed the technology didn’t work, Holmes and co-founder Sunny Balwani had defrauded investors of more than £564 million ($700m). Charged in 2022, Holmes had her 11-year sentence shortened by two years in July 2023.

How the mighty have fallen. Back in 2014, Holmes' net worth was a staggering £3.6 billion ($4.5bn). The year before, the CEO and her then-boyfriend, Theranos ex-president and Chief Operations Officer Sunny Balwani, paid £7.2 million ($9m) for this luxurious five-bedroom mansion in the Silicon Valley city of Atherton. Nestled on just over an acre, the expansive 8,790-square-foot home is located on one of the area's most affluent streets.

Enclosed by gates, the regal home dates back to 1936 and features an array of elegant living spaces, including a wine cellar and a wet bar. Meanwhile, the manicured grounds feature a swimming pool, a detached guesthouse and an air-conditioned loggia. In 2018, following the couple's split, Balwani bought Holmes out of her half of the property for £6.3 million ($7.9m) and became its sole owner. Amid the ensuing legal storm, Balwani listed the mansion for sale in 2021 and it finally sold the following year for £12.6 million ($15.8m), money Balwani likely needed to pay his attorneys. 

Holmes met her husband, hotel heir Billy Evans, in 2017. For a time, the couple reportedly rented this relatively modest apartment in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighbourhood for just over £4,000 ($3.2k) per month. The pair married in 2019 and while awaiting trial on 12 counts of fraud, Holmes gave birth to the couple's two children. Her daughter was only three months old when she began her sentence on 30 May 2023, say reports. 

By the time of her criminal trial in 2021, CNBC reported that Holmes and Evans were staying at Green Gables, one of America's most expensive private estates. At the time, the residence was listed for an eye-watering £108 million ($135m), although the pair were said to have rented one of the six more modest homes on the 74-acre property rather than the grand main house.

It's not hard to see why the secluded estate would have appealed to Holmes as she tried to dodge the media circus surrounding her trial. However, her lavish choice of accommodation drew criticism from many, especially given the £560 million ($700m) Theranos had raised from its wealthy investors. Holmes and Balwani were told they must pay back £362 million ($452m) to the victims of their crimes, who include media mogul Rupert Murdoch, but it seems unlikely that will ever happen. 

From Goodfellas to Scarface, there are countless iconic movies about scandalous American gangsters, many of which were inspired by real-life people. Perhaps New Jersey's most notorious criminal, Albert Anastasia was responsible for helping to create the modern American Mafia and was also a co-founder of the Murder, Inc. crime group. 

Rising through the ranks, Anastasia became the kingpin of the Gambino crime family in the 1940s, and this billionaire bolthole is where he lived. Anastasia purchased the 1.3-acre plot in Fort Lee in 1947 and set about building himself a mansion worthy of a mafia boss. 

The 25-room Italianate-style home was designed to his exacting needs and features one-foot-thick concrete walls and at least two doorways in each room for making a swift escape. There's even a reported 'slaughter room', containing nothing but a drain. The space was officially used for preparing deer after hunting, but who knows.....

Spanning an impressive 8,551 square feet, the home comes with six bedrooms, an entertainment room with a bar and projector, a swimming pool and a pool house. Left relatively intact since the gangster's days, the retro kitchen and timber-clad office, where Anastasia no doubt hosted many a tense meeting, give us a fascinating insight into his life. The property is also said to have once harboured a secret escape tunnel, although it's unclear if it still exists.

Positioned on an idyllic lot, the mansion offers 180-degree views of Manhattan and the Hudson River. In the October of 1957, Anastasia's kingpin reign ended when he was assassinated in a barbershop. Following his death, the house passed to several other high-profile owners, including the American actor and comedian Buddy Hackett and local entrepreneur, Arthur Imperatore. The property was up for auction in 2015 with a starting bid of £4.4 million ($5.5m) asking price but an eager buyer snapped up the house before bidding could commence.

A fraudulent financier of shocking proportions, Bernie Madoff duped his clients out of a staggering £52 billion ($64.8bn), operating the biggest financial fraud in US history and what's thought to be the world's largest Ponzi scheme. The law finally caught up with the New York-based swindler and he was jailed in 2009 for 150 years. In April 2021, Madoff passed away in federal prison at the age of 82.

Madoff managed to amass an impressive property portfolio before he was eventually caught. His plush penthouse apartment on Manhattan's exclusive Upper East Side was one of the finest residences in his collection –  and also the location of his arrest in December 2008. After posting an £8 million ($10m) bail, he was placed under 24-hour house arrest in the apartment until his trial. 

The neoclassical-style apartment building was constructed in 1927 and Madoff and his wife, Ruth, moved into the desirable top-floor duplex in 1984. Spanning 3,650 square feet, the Madoffs' luxurious former home hit the market back in 2022 for a significant £12 million ($15m) with Brown Harris Stevens, before selling. While the interior has undergone a modern makeover, many of its historic features remain the same, as the latest listing images show.

Accessed by an elevator, the property has a total of three bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms, plus a number of beautiful, sprawling reception rooms that overlook Manhattan. Views from the property extend as far as the Big Apple's iconic Chrysler Building. In the sun-drenched dining room, the stunning Palladian glass windows and intricate ceiling coving are unaltered from Bernie's tenure. 

Federal authorities sold off Madoff's penthouse in 2010 following the swindler's incarceration. Toy tycoon Alfred Kahn, the magnate behind the Cabbage Patch dolls, bought the residence for £7.1 million  ($8.9m). His wife, Patsy, reportedly fell in love with the skyline views, but Alfred was concerned about the home's karma. It's not hard to see why Patsy was drawn to the property – this curved landing, with its towering ceiling and sweeping staircase, is nothing short of spectacular. 

When compared with press photos taken in 2009 following Bernie's conviction, the narrow galley kitchen is relatively unchanged from when the Madoffs used the space. The white wood panelling, glass-fronted cabinetry and tiled floors are still intact, though the older appliances have been switched out for state-of-the-art models. 

With its luxurious marble-clad walls, the main bathroom appears much as it was over a decade ago too, though contemporary fixtures such as a back-lit vanity mirror bring the spa-like space up to date. The Kahns sold the penthouse in 2014 in rather strange circumstances, following what was ominously referred to as a "mysterious fire" at the property. During the sale, the pair reportedly separated and divorced. This unfortunate series of events has caused some to speculate that the penthouse is cursed...

This room was more recently converted into an all-white nursery, however, previous listing images from when the penthouse went up for sale in 2014 show how it used to look. Formerly a grand home office, the space still looked incredibly similar to when Bernie resided here. Dark wood panelling encircled the room, while a grand white marble fireplace stood centre stage, flanked by two built-in bookcases.

Following Bernie's trial, his assets were sold off by authorities. Belongings from the Madoffs' Manhattan penthouse were auctioned off at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 10 November 2010. With hundreds of items on offer, lots ranged from Bernie's black bedroom slippers to brass dinnerware and even an enormous emerald-cut diamond. Proceeds from the sales went to compensate the victims of his fraudulent scheme.

As well as his Manhattan penthouse, Madoff also owned this breathtaking beach house in the Hamptons. Nestled amongst picturesque sand dunes, the property sits on 1.5 acres of prime real estate in New York's affluent vacation hotspot. Records show that Madoff and his wife, Ruth, purchased the plot of land in the 1980s for a mere £200,000 ($250k) and set about building the beach house we see today.

Before it was sold off by US marshals in 2009, the house, though super-valuable, had become decidedly dated and was described by a local agent as “a 1980s dump set in a fabulous location”. The new owners, Vornado Realty Trust CEO Steven Roth and his wife, Tony Award-winning producer Daryl Roth, picked up the mansion for £7.5 million ($9.4m) and soon set about giving it a major makeover.

The couple hired architect-to-the-stars Thierry Despont to oversee the revamp of the 3,000-square-foot house, which now has a total of three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Despont pretty much ripped out everything and even went as far as to create this stunning double-height great room with a vaulted barrel ceiling, as well as moving the front door from the second floor to the first.

Other desirable features of the renovated property include the 30-foot stone fireplace, an expansive smart home automation system and a stunning freeform gunite swimming pool. The residence was previously listed for just under £16 million ($20m) in 2018. It was relisted again in 2020 and was back on the market in 2021 for £18 million ($22.5m). It sold in March 2023 for £11.3 million ($14m). The Roths certainly made a significant return on the £7.5 million ($9.4m) they purchased the property for. Not bad for the former home of a fraudster...

Chicago gangster Al Capone is one of history's most infamous mobsters. Also known as Scarface, he made a name for himself as the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit crime syndicate in the 1920s. During his bloody rise to the top, Capone amassed quite the fortune, splashing out on a number of plush properties along the way.

At the height of his power in 1928, Capone bought a spectacular villa on Palm Island in Miami's South Beach to escape to when things got heavy in the Windy City. Flush with cash from his bootlegging operations, Capone customised the home with features befitting of a mafia don.

With so many enemies to contend with, Capone was understandably paranoid when it came to security. To quell his anxiety, he reportedly splurged £160,000 ($200k) on extra security for the amazing estate, which is about £2.4 million ($3m) today when adjusted for inflation. These additions included the installation of a seven-foot-high wall complete with searchlights, as well as a gatehouse.

In May 1929, Capone was imprisoned for nine months after he was caught with a concealed weapon, then jailed again for seven years in 1931 over tax evasion charges. Capone was released from Alcatraz in 1939. Seriously ill with late-stage syphilis, he spent the last years of his life at the Miami mansion with his wife Mae, where he died in 1947.

Mae Capone eventually sold the four-bedroom property in 1952. It last traded hands for £12.5 million ($15.5m) in October 2021, when it was saved from the wrecking ball. The former mafia hideout retains some of its original Art Deco features, including a glam powder room and tiled fireplaces.

The rumoured inspiration for the character of Tony Soprano in the award-winning HBO series, mobster-turned-FBI-informant Vincent Palermo, AKA Vinny Ocean, was the de facto boss of New Jersey's DeCavalcante crime family. After cooperating with law enforcement, Palermo was placed in witness protection, adopting the pseudonym Vincent Cabella.

During this time, he snagged a gated mansion in a plush Houston neighbourhood. A veritable palace, the five-bedroom property is fantastically glamorous, surrounded by lush gardens and flanked by an ornate fountain and swimming pool.

The mansion impresses with a plethora of luxurious features, from marble flooring and columns to elaborate plasterwork. The principal reception room boasts crystal chandeliers, expensive antique and reproduction furniture, Murano glass mirrors, plush carpets and a fabulous grand piano.

Palermo certainly didn't hold back when it came to decorating his sumptuous hideout and the ostentatious vibe carries through into the bedrooms. The master suite is graced with a solid mahogany four-poster bed, an ornate chandelier and a marble fireplace that must have cost a fortune.

The luxurious, blinged-out mansion even features a roomy home cinema – perfect for watching all those Sopranos reruns. Palermo's cover was blown in 2009 and several weeks later, he listed the mansion with an asking price of £3.2 million ($4m). It failed to sell, so he took it off the market. The property was listed again in 2015 and purchased the following year for £2.3 million ($2.9m). 

Nicknamed Joe Batters and the Big Tuna, Tony Accardo was made boss of the Chicago Outfit in 1972, the same gang Al Capone previously headed up. His criminal career was extensive, spanning eight decades, and Accardo invested the proceeds of his crooked profession in many avenues, including real estate.

Before he rose to the top of his nefarious profession, the Windy City mobster lived in a posh mansion in the Chicago suburb of River Forest. With its sweeping driveway, columned covered entrance and ornate windows, this grand property certainly makes a regal first impression.

Fitted with beautiful parquet flooring, intricate plasterwork and high-end brick fireplaces, the house has all the trappings of a Mafia leader's residence. Aside from several regal reception rooms and bedrooms, the property has a library, cedar-lined spa, large three-car garage and a gorgeous swimming pool.

Following a burglary, Accardo offloaded the five-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom property, decamping to a condo in the same neighbourhood, before moving into his daughter and son-in-law's home in Barrington Hills, Illinois. He died of respiratory and heart failure in 1992.

The River Forest mansion was bought in 1983 by an anonymous buyer who listed the property in 2017 for £1.8 million ($2.3m). The home languished on the market and following a series of price cuts, eventually sold for just over £886,000 ($1.1m), well below the price the owner hoped for.

In the 1970s and 80s, while Romania was drowning in debt and citizens faced food rationing and extreme poverty, communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu lived a life of decadent luxury. While many lived in constant fear of the secret police, Ceaușescu and his wife Elena set about designing the most opulent dwelling imaginable.

The Palatul Primaverii or Spring Palace, his Bucharest home, was a showcase of his inordinate ill-gotten wealth. Built in the 1960s, the vast residence features an ornate columned entrance and an intricate marble façade.

The mansion's opulent principal reception room is loaded with gilded furniture, lashings of marble, pricey artworks, a sparkling chandelier and a sprawling Persian carpet. With no expense spared, the space is awash with gold finishes and expensive materials.

The master bedroom of the dictator's lavish home was kitted out with Versailles-esque furniture and copious gilding, along with a priceless Murano glass mirror and yet another crystal chandelier. Ceaușescu also installed a striking indoor swimming pool, hiring Bucharest's best artisans to adorn the pool room with mosaic tiles and swathes of marble.

Dripping in gold, the most ostentatious finishes were saved for the inordinately expensive bathroom. From the taps to the toilet roll holders, the fixtures are made from solid gold. The dictator's rule came to an end in 1989 during the Romanian Revolution. Ceaușescu and his wife were convicted of genocide and executed by firing squad on Christmas Day. The property of the Romanian government, the palace is now a museum. 

Presiding over a regime that has gone down in history as especially brutal and corrupt, Ferdinand Marcos was president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. Accused of rigging elections and using martial law to assume absolute power over the country, Marcos amassed a reported fortune of up to £8 billion ($10bn) while in office.

The dictator and his shoe-loving wife, Imelda, plundered hundreds of millions of dollars into their lavish lifestyle, including a vast real estate portfolio that boasted this palatial palace in Tacloban City. His son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, came to power following a landslide win in the 2022 elections and has asked to be judged on his own merit and "not by my ancestors."

His parents meanwhile, did not feel the need to justify their actions. They had the opulent 21,500-square-foot palace constructed in the late 1970s and filled it with pricey art and antiques. The shopaholic first lady also had a shrine to Santo Niño de Cebú built on the site, along with a heritage museum.

Top artists were appointed to paint numerous portraits of Imelda to adorn the home's walls. This picture of her rising from the sea like a goddess is surrounded by gold mosaic tiling, gilded antique furniture and elaborate light fixtures, all of which undoubtedly came with hefty price tags.

The master bedroom is as grandiose as the other rooms in the property, with a regal canopy bed and no end of elaborate gold finishes. Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos were forced to flee the Philippines following the 1986 People Power Revolution, leaving behind their many mansions. Today, their Tacloban City home is open to the public and serves as a monument to the couple's excess.

Malaysian businessman Jho Low, who helped finance the production of The Wolf of Wall Street, is currently a fugitive wanted by the FBI for his alleged involvement in Malaysia's multibillion-dollar 1MDB corruption scandal. According to the indictment, Low is accused of conspiracy to launder billions of dollars in illegal proceeds but he denies any wrongdoing. 

In 2012, before he fled the US, Low splashed £31.4 million ($39m) on this slick contemporary mansion in the affluent celebrity hotspot of LA's Hollywood Hills. With its slick glass exterior and dazzling front deck overlooking the city skyline, the trophy home is a modern masterpiece.

After Low fled the country, the federal authorities seized the head-turning mansion and listed it on the market. The six-bedroom, seven-bathroom property was eventually sold in 2019 for the knockdown price of £14.8 million ($18.5m), significantly lower than the asking price of £19.6 million ($24.5m) and less than half of what Low paid for it in 2012.

Constructed in the 1980s, the wow-factor party pad was completely overhauled by top developer Nile Niami and reborn as a 13,000-square-foot glass mega-mansion, complete with expansive open-concept living spaces, floor-to-ceiling windows, a separate guesthouse and guard shack.

Bizarrely, Low spent the little amount of time he had in the mansion removing its fixtures and fittings, and when the property was put up for sale, much of the work done by Nile Niami and his team had been destroyed. Still, the buyer got one hell of a deal and will likely stand to make a reasonable profit the next time the home comes on the market.

Estimated to have been worth up to £24 billion ($30bn) before his death in the 1990s, notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar was one of the richest villains in history. The Colombian criminal was the founder and leader of the infamous Medellín Cartel and at his height, he was responsible for over 80% of the cocaine that entered the US.

While his main residence was located in Colombia, the King of Cocaine also owned this idyllic hideaway in Tulum, Mexico. Secluded and shielded by dense foliage, it's the ultimate criminal hideout where Escobar would lie low and elude the FBI and Colombian police.

The beachfront estate featured bulletproof walls and would have been heavily guarded. Despite the many precautions he took to stay safe, the Colombian cartel boss was shot dead in his hometown of Medellín in December 1993.

Following Escobar's death, the paradise property in Tulum was effectively abandoned to the elements. It was eventually acquired in 2012 by New York art dealer Lio Malca, who converted the mansion into a 71-room five-star hotel called Casa Malca, which is now regarded as one of Mexico's finest.

Highlights of the hotel include a secret underground swimming pool built in a cave where Escobar is said to have hidden vast sums of cash. Meanwhile, his brother Roberto, a former accountant with the cartel, and nephew Nicolás are reported to be embroiled in a heated family dispute over the drug lord's prized possessions, in which Roberto has allegedly threatened to kill his son if he claims the rights to Escobar's memorabilia.

The man who perfected the fraudulent investing scheme that bears his name, Charles Ponzi is one of the most prolific con men of all time. Operating in the US and Canada, the swindler would pay out returns to clients with other investors' money. 

He snapped up this handsome Colonial Revival home in Lexington, Massachusetts in 1920, mere months before he was arrested and charged with 86 counts of mail fraud. At the time of the property's purchase, Ponzi was pulling in just over £200,000 ($250k) a day from his various scams, the equivalent of £2.5 million ($3.2m) in today's money.

This fat income enabled the fraudster to hire servants including a butler and a cook, as well as splurging on all manner of luxuries, from silk damask wallpaper to air conditioning and a heated swimming pool. Unfortunately for him, Ponzi wasn't able to enjoy the opulence of his home, as he went on to serve 14 years in jail for his crimes.

The mansion was purchased by an eminent lawyer, who held onto it for 70 years. The seven-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bathroom home, which last sold in 2015 for £2 million ($2.5m), has since been remodelled but many of the original features Ponzi installed, including the cornices, mouldings and original zinc sink in the butler's pantry, remain in place.

The elegant dining room with its huge dining table, regal wallpaper and chandeliers is likely to have looked similar in 1920 when Ponzi lived in the mansion. The palatial property also features a carriage house and almost an acre of idyllic gardens, a far cry from the cell Ponzi occupied during his long stretch behind bars. 

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