Estate agent who secretly sold her millionaire ex's Lamborghini 'gift' after whirlwind romance then blew the lot on holidays and partying is hit with £300k court bill
A woman who sold her rich ex's Lamborghini super-SUV and blew the proceeds on holidays, clothes, clubbing and booze is paying the price - after he sued her for getting rid of the car.
Erin Giumba, a 28-year-old estate agent from London, enjoyed a 'brief but intense relationship' with entrepreneur and part-time model Ernest Siow after they met in a nightclub in Miami in 2022 whilst on holiday.
Within weeks, Miss Giumba had quit her job and was enjoying the high life with her boyfriend, who created and sold Hypebears non-fungible tokens (NFTs) - unregulated digital identifiers around which the market has now collapsed.
During that time, he bought a roaring £260,000 Lamborghini Urus supercar-cum-SUV, capable of reaching 60mph in 3.4seconds from a standing start.
But the couple split up in 2022 after an emotional conversation at premium London Japanese restaurant Roka Mayfair.
She then sold the car, before splashing out on 'holidays, clothes, clubs and alcohol,' Mayor's and City County Court heard.
The court heard he had purchased the £260,000 supercar-cum-SUV and put it in her name. She argued that he had 'gifted' it to her.
But she is now facing a £300,000 court bill after she was sued by Mr Siow, with a judge this week finding she had no right to sell the car, as it was still his.
Judge Nicholas Parfitt found the Lamborghini was not hers - it was to be 'used for his business and was part of their relationship.'
Although she insisted she has 'no money,' he ordered that she hand Mr Siow the £219,500 she got when she sold it in November 2022, plus interest, and his lawyers' bills totaling £60,000.
Entrepreneur and NFT salesman Ernest Siow has won a court battle with his ex over a Lamborghini SUV that she sold after their breakup
Erin Giumba thought she had been 'gifted' the car after being made its registered keeper in the UK
Miss Giumba posing with the Lamborghini Urus - one of the first 'supercar SUVs' that aims to mix world-class performance with practicality
During the trial, the judge heard how high-flying Singapore national Mr Siow and Miss Giumba met while both holidaying in Miami in April 2022.
The relationship was 'brief but intense,' with Miss Giumba quitting her job and working part-time for Mr Siow in his international 'rent to rent' property business.
The car, described by Lamborghini as the world's first super-SUV, with the 'soul of a super sports car and the functionality of an SUV,' was bought in May 2022 with Mr Siow's money and registered to Miss Giumba.
Mr Siow claimed it was bought to use in his business, so that he could make a good impression and look 'wealthy and professional' when viewing properties in London, and registered to Miss Giumba only because he was not a UK resident.
But the relationship burned out quickly and the couple parted in November that year after a dinner in Mayfair.
She then sold the car, but having run short of money and with no work, she was back home living with her mum in Hertfordshire and working as a part-time estate agent again by February 2023.
Miss Giumba told the court that the Lamborghini - which she described as her 'dream car' - had been a gift to her from Mr Siow, whom she claimed was planning to buy a McLaren for himself.
'I initiated the breakup, but wanted to give it another go - he was the one who then said no,' she told the judge.
'He was very sweet when we saw each other the final time. He told me I could keep the gifts, including the car.
'He only asked that he could drive the car when he was in the UK a few times a year, and I agreed with that.'
She claimed that the case was 'not about the car, but about his cruelty'.
But Mr Siow's barrister, Jonathan de Rohan, suggested that she had 'exploited his generosity and kindness' and sold his car from 'under his nose' after they split, before changing her phone number.
'These are not the actions of a person who honestly believed the car to be their property - rather, opportunistically and without notice, disposing of a very valuable item of property belonging to another,' he said.
The Lamborghini Urus at the centre of the case, which was worth £260,000 and sold by mis Giumba for around £219,500
Cross-examining her, he continued: 'We know that the vehicle was sold on November 24, 2022, for £219,500. That was transferred into your bank account. What happened to it thereafter?'
She replied: 'I spent a lot of it on holidays, things that have no real value or investment.
'I was in a very deranged time of my life and I was just spending stupidly, as I had learned from Ernest. I'm not blaming him. I was just used to doing that.'
She said she had lived a certain type of 'partying' lifestyle with Mr Siow and 'got used to it,' spending much of the money in two months. Even premium bonds she bought were cashed in and the money spent, she said.
'I went down a very dark path,' she said. 'I am very happy I don't have that lifestyle anymore.'
In his evidence, Mr Siow denied planning to buy a McLaren and said he had chosen the Lamborghini Urus because it had seats in the back.
'I don't like supercars with two seats, because I like to drive around with my friends and family,' he said.
His barrister said he accepted buying gifts for Miss Giumba, who thought the relationship had long-term potential, remarking what it would be like to have a baby seat in the car.
But he said it had been a 'transient, international, inherently unstable relationship,' so it was unlikely he would have given her something so valuable.
'It was never intended to be a gift to Miss Giumba, but was to be Mr Siow's car for when he was in London,' he said.
'She can have been in no doubt that the car was not hers and that she was not authorised or entitled to sell it.'
He said she had confused being registered keeper of a car, as she was, with being its actual legal owner.
Giving judgment, Judge Parfitt said that both Mr Siow and Miss Giumba had been 'doing their best to give accurate evidence.'
Siow claims to have made $1million in profit from selling Hypebears NFTs - digital images which have a 'unique' entry on a digital ledger. They are now largely worthless
He said he had viewed a video of the car being delivered and the dashboard readout saying 'welcome Erin,' but that did not prove it was hers.
'The video is consistent with the car being a gift, but it is also consistent with it being part of what she was getting as part of the relationship,' he said.
'She was getting him and also an expensive car. It is consistent with the car being available as part of the relationship.'
But he said messages between the pair of them showed Mr Siow to be 'exercising dominion over the car.'
And he added: 'Not telling him about the sale is consistent with her understanding that it hadn't been a gift to her. It's a car. It's very high value. It is on the face of it the unlikely subject of a gift, given the size of the value.'
Finding that the car was not Miss Giumba's to sell, he told her: 'When you sold the car, that money shouldn't have gone to you. It should have gone to the claimant.'
He ordered that she pay him the sale price of £219,500, plus two years and four months' interest at five per cent, plus his legal bills of £60,000.
She responded: 'I don't have the money...I can't pay.'
Siow has previously claimed to have made $1million in profits from the sale of 10,000 Hypebear NFTs - the value of which has now plummeted to virtually nothing after pulling in a reported $40million in sales.
NFTs are bought with cryptocurrency, and valued by crypto traders because of their unique entry on the 'blockchain' - a digital ledger that cannot be modified.
However, sceptics said the tokens - which normally had images or videos attached, as in Hypebears and the Bored Ape Club - had no real intrinsic value and were being traded in an unregulated fashion.
The market became infamous for 'rugpulls' - when those who invested early pull all of their money out after an asset surges in value, causing later buyers to lose all of their money - amid allegations of insider trading.
It ultimately collapsed in 2023, with collections once worth millions valued at nothing.
At the time they went on sale, each Hypebear was worth a reported 0.4 Ethereum cryptocurrency - around $1,200 (£880) - at the time. They are now worth around $10 each, according to listings on NFT trading marketplace OpenSea.
