Trading house boss still working in the industry despite guilty plea to criminal charges

The corporate watchdog allowed a trading house boss charged with criminal offences to continue working in the industry after deciding to ban only the man’s business partner before launching its criminal case.

Daniel Kirby, who in September pleaded guilty to three offences relating to the collapse of notorious trading house Berndale Capital Partners, has been legally working in the sector since 2022 for Sydney-headquartered Summit Auto Trading.

Daniel Kirby (right), the former director of Berndale Capital Securities, now works at Summit Auto Trading.Credit: Facebook

Kirby’s former business partner at Berndale, Stavro D’Amore, has pleaded not guilty to 16 charges of alleged dishonesty in the financial services industry, and has been committed to stand trial. In 2018, D’Amore was banned for six years from working in financial service.

Berndale was once Australia’s fifth-largest broker of high-risk financial betting derivatives known as contracts for difference.

For several years, Kirby and D’Amore enjoyed the group’s success, with a Collins Street office and both driving McLaren sports cars estimated to be worth more than $250,000 each.

The business collapsed in 2019 owing its customers $5 million amid a wave of complaints including serious allegations of misconduct by Kirby and D’Amore, first revealed by this masthead. Both cars were repossessed by creditors.

The Summit Auto Trading website.Credit: Internet

This masthead can now reveal that Kirby – who was charged with the criminal offences in June 2023 – has since 2022 been working with Summit Auto Trading in a “software support” role.

Emails sent from an address under the name Daniel Kirby – seen by this masthead – encourage sales and talk up Summit’s investment algorithms that promise huge returns of as much as 48 per cent a year.

According to Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) searches, the sole shareholder of Summit Auto Trading in Australia is an entity controlled by Kirby’s father, Graham Kirby.

The records show the Graham Kirby company became the shareholder after the business’ prior owner sold their shares in 2023.

The prior shareholder is a woman who operates an animal rescue in a suburb in Melbourne’s north-east.She did not respond to inquiries this week.

Documents filed with ASIC to establish the company list another man, Jason McLean, as the company director. The email address left on the forms for ASIC to contact the company is Daniel Kirby’s private email address. Neither McLean nor Graham Kirby are accused of wrongdoing.

Summit Auto Trading offers software to help traders, both professional and novice, buy and sell financial derivatives automatically without placing individual orders for each trade. The customised computer program assists in picking and timing these trades.

According to introduction guides sent to clients and the group’s website, Summit Auto Trading offers a four-tier software guide. Investors can pay $4900 to “commence your autotrading journey” and up to $24,990 for “institutional grade autotrading software for professionals”. Its website claims its $14,990 package is its most popular.

“Summit Auto Trading are the leaders in automatic trading systems that maximise your return while minimising risk,” says a promotional presentation for the group, obtained by this masthead.

“Automatic trading, also known as algorithmic trading uses customised software that follows expert traders instructions and allows you to trade safer and faster than humanly possible.

“With more than 16 years exclusively within the Forex industry, our team of expert traders are on-hand to guide you on your Autotrading journey.”

Summit Auto Trading, also known as Summit Autotrading, claimed in earlier versions of its website – visible via an archive search – that it has serviced more than 1000 clients from 22 countries and that it had “100 per cent satisfied customers”.

Kirby’s McLaren, worth more than $250,000, in a photo posted to his Facebook account in 2016.Credit: Facebook

The group’s social media presence is limited but the one review on its Facebook page has no stars.

Foreign currency – or forex – trading houses are generally registered under an Australian financial services licence to ensure they are operating in line with the laws and regulations covering such businesses.

According to ASIC’s database, Summit Auto Trading is not registered to provide financial services in Australia. On its website, Summit says “any data and information is provided ‘as is’ solely for informational purposes and is not intended for trading purposes or advice”.

When this masthead contacted McLean and Daniel Kirby via email this week to ask a series of questions relating to Kirby’s involvement and whether the Summit Autotrading business was engaged in financial services, McLean responded: “We have no comment to make.”

Graham Kirby, who has worked as a mortgage broker for many years, declined to comment.

Under the Corporations Act, ASIC can ban a person from working in the financial services industry if they are convicted of an offence including dishonest conduct.

D’Amore was banned for six years in 2018 over the demise of Berndale, despite not having been convicted of any criminal offences. His ban will end this month.

Daniel Kirby’s lawyer did not respond to inquiries. A spokesperson for ASIC declined to comment as the matter was before the court.

There is no suggestion that Kirby is breaking any laws by working with Summit, but his involvement in the business has raised eyebrows at the corporate watchdog.

A source familiar these matters, who was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly, said it was unclear whether Summit Auto Trading was engaging in financial services.

They also said that given Kirby’s guilty plea, it was expected he would receive an automatic ban from working in financial services once sentenced.

Kirby pleaded guilty in September to one count of providing false or misleading information to an auditor, one count of dishonest use of his position as a director and one count of dishonest conduct in relation to a financial service. He is yet to be sentenced.

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