The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) has set aside a decision by ASIC to ban Paul Ernest Dortkamp, formerly a director, chairman, and responsible manager of Spaceship Capital.
In June 2022, Dortkamp was banned from performing functions as an officer and responsible manager of a financial services business for a period of two years.
ASIC had alleged Dortkamp failed to understand the financial services offered by Spaceship under its licence.
Specifically, in late 2018 and early 2019, ASIC believed Dortkamp failed to take the necessary steps in relation to a fault in Spaceship Super Fund’s consumer onboarding system in a timely way. This resulted in an unknown number of members being assigned to the incorrect superannuation product.
At the time, Dortkamp concluded it was not Spaceship’s responsibility nor his responsibility to deal with the fault.
He appealed ASIC’s decision to the AAT.
Based on evidence provided at the AAT hearing, deputy president, Brian Rayment, determined he was not satisfied that Dortkamp had failed to act, did not understand the financial services which his company was providing, or is incompetent.
