Wealthy socialite, 40, accuses her crypto bro and ‘wellness’ guru ex, 34, of squandering her money on £45,000 of luxury clothes including silk pyjamas in bitter court battle
A £3.2million fortune, a collection of Rolexes and a pair of Dolce & Gabbana silk pyjamas are at the centre of a bitter court fight between a wealthy socialite and her meditating ex-lover.
Millionaire Vanessa Wurm, 40, and ‘wellness’ guru Kash Amini, 34, had a ‘romantic relationship’ between 2019 and 2022 during which they set up home at her £4million pad in London’s exclusive Belgravia.
But following their split Mr Amini, a financier and Bitcoin trader, has been accused of misusing funds Ms Wurm poured into his company while they were together and squandering her cash on his ‘generally extravagant lifestyle’.
She claims she was promised the position of chief operating officer at his ‘finance and wellness’ company Maslife Ltd after putting £3.2million into the business, but was ‘promptly’ sacked by Mr Amini when they split up.
Ms Wurm, an entrepreneur and socialite who runs a jewellery and fashion accessory business, is now suing her ex, asking London’s High Court to make him and his company account for her alleged investment.
She is also demanding the return of £45,000 worth of luxury clothing – including Dolce & Gabbana silk pyjamas, Hermes sandals and a number of crocodile skin bags – which she says belong to her company Vness Ltd and are being held by her ex.
Millionaire Vanessa Wurm (pictured), 40, is suing ‘wellness’ guru Kash Amini (the pair are pictured together in Cannes, France, in May 2022)
Ms Wurm is also demanding the return of £45,000 worth of luxury clothing – including Dolce & Gabbana silk pyjamas, Hermes sandals and a number of crocodile skin bags
On top of that, Ms Wurm’s ‘extremely wealthy, elderly mother’ Rosemarie, who is in her 80s, has joined the case and is suing Mr Amini and his company for the return of a £355,000 Ferrari 812 which she claims she lent him.
But Mr Amini and Maslife Ltd are defending the claims, disputing the level of his ex’s investment and claiming it can all be legitimately accounted for.
He claims that, of £2.8million she put in, £1.3million was lost by Ms Wurm gambling on Bitcoin investments, £500,000 went on ‘gifts’ for him or herself and the rest went to buy shares in the company.
He is also countersuing, claiming that the £45,000 worth of clothing, which includes a ‘made to measure fur vest’ and ‘horse riding outfits’ as well as the contested silk pyjamas, were given to him as gifts and are his.
He also claims the Ferrari was a gift which he was ‘very grateful to receive’ and accuses Ms Wurm of hanging on to four Rolex watches worth £125,000 which are his.
London’s High Court heard that Ms Wurm and Mr Amini enjoyed a three-year relationship, living at her £4million home in Grosvenor Crescent Mews.
They lived a luxury lifestyle, attending Royal Ascot and splashing hundreds of thousands of pounds on costly goods, including Rolex watches and treatments.
As well as their personal entanglement, the pair had ‘a professed business element’ to their relationship, her barrister Andrew Butler KC said, with Ms Wurm claiming to have invested £3.2million in Mr Amini’s business ‘on the strength of promises of a shareholding and a position within the business’.
Ms Wurum claims she was promised the position of chief operating officer at Mr Amini’s ‘finance and wellness’ company Maslife Ltd after putting £3.2million into the firm (the pair are pictured in 2021)
Suing, she now claims that the shareholding ‘materialised but not in the proportion to which she claims she was entitled’ and complains that whilst she was appointed COO of the company briefly, her position was ‘promptly terminated at the end of their relationship’.
She is demanding her ex and the company account for where her money has gone, return a cluster of luxury personal items she says he is holding onto and give back a Ferrari which Ms Wurm’s mum says she lent Mr Amini ‘for the purpose of his business’.
‘Following the breakdown of the relationship between Vanessa and Mr Amini, Rosemarie Wurm demanded the return of the Ferrari but Mr Amini and/or his company have refused to return it,’ Mr Butler told Judge Simon Gleeson.
He claimed that Mr Amini – also a former pro basketball player – was continually strapped for cash during the relationship, suggesting that he used his partner’s funds to clear mounting debts.
The barrister highlighted a newspaper interview from August 2022, in which Mr Amini spoke of using the ‘power of meditation’ to clear a £1million cash black hole.
‘Since he had no – or no significant – income throughout the duration of his relationship with Ms Wurm, she believes that if and in so far as Mr Amini did clear such a debt, he actually did so through the misapplication of the payments,’ said Mr Butler.
In the interview, Mr Amini spoke of ‘imploding’ seven years ago after mentally exhausting himself when variously working as a crypto trader, financier, entrepreneur and restaurateur, before taking a break to engage in mindful meditation and devoting four years to ‘self-development’.
Mr Amini says his ex splurged on Crypto-currency investments in late 2021, using him to broker deals and ultimately clocking up losses of around £1.3million
Ms Wurum is pictured at the Venice International Film Festival in Italy in 2021
Ms Wurm and Mr Amini had a ‘romantic relationship’ between 2019 and 2022 during which they set up home at her £4million pad in London ‘s exclusive Belgravia (pictured is Grosvenor Crescent Mews, Belgravia)
He said his spiritual transformation helped him clear his debts and, after picking himself up, he went on to found Maslife Ltd, which aims to help people make better health and financial choices, and encourages practising yoga and meditation.
Mr Butler accused Mr Amini of ‘misapplying’ some of the money put into his business by Ms Wurm.
‘Ms Wurm believes that Mr Amini has utilised the payments for personal purposes and or for the development of other businesses being operated by him,’ the KC said, claiming that was illustrated by Mr Amini’s ‘generally extravagant lifestyle, which he maintained despite the absence of income’.
Mr Amini’s free-spending habits have allegedly carried on unchecked, said Mr Butler, noting that he had been spotted driving a blue Bentley in recent months.
‘His ostentatiously extravagant lifestyle has every appearance of continuing unabated and there is no transparency as to how he is funding it,’ he claimed in his written arguments.
Ms Wurm’s lawyers say Mr Amini ‘sought to persuade’ her to invest in his company, promising that the funds would be used to develop the business and that she would garner shares in Maslife ‘commensurate with her investment’.
In line with this assurance, she says she paid £3,219,622 to Mr Amini and Maslife between 2019 and 2022, said Mr Butler, claiming that Ms Wurm is now entitled to a fair allocation of shares.
On top of her other claims, she is also demanding £102,500 from Maslife Ltd for alleged breach of contract in failing to pay for her nine months of work.
Wellness guru Mr Amini (left) is defending the claims against him by Ms Wurum (left)
‘Mr Amini does not help his cause by referring more than once to Ms Wurm’s vindictiveness following the breakdown of their relationship as if a desire to know the fate of £3.2million that one has given to one’s ex-partner is no more than a bitter hangover of a failed relationship and something that reasonable and non-vindictive people would just take in their stride,’ said Mr Butler.
But Mr Amini denies that she was given the role of chief operating officer – ‘although he accepts that he tolerated her holding herself out as COO in emails written to third parties,’ explained his barrister, Romie Tager KC.
He also insists that only £2.855million was paid out by Ms Wurm – with £1,653,700 going to him and £1,201,500 going to Maslife.
The money transferred to him was intended to cover Ms Wurm’s ‘speculative investments’ in Bitcoin, foreign currency and other trading ventures, although some also went on gifts for either himself or Ms Wurm, he said.
Overall, £510,000 channeled to Mr Amini were ‘gifts’, said the barrister, adding: ‘Much of that money was used to fund their lifestyle’ – including £194,274 spent on Botox and beauty treatments.
And the roughly £1.2million transferred direct to Maslife were intended for the purchase of shares in Mr Amini’s company, said his barrister.
Ms Wurm had started speculating in Bitcoin and other crypto-currency in early 2021 after receiving a massive cash gift from her mother, claimed Mr Tager, and Mr Amini agreed to let her use his trading accounts after first warning her off investing in such an ‘unpredictable and volatile’ market.
Mr Amini says his ex splurged on Crypto-currency investments in late 2021, using him to broker deals and ultimately clocking up losses of around £1.3million.
Ms Wurm (pictured) had started speculating in Bitcoin and other crypto-currency in early 2021, a court heard
To help her keep trading and cover her losses he says he lent his ex a total of £156,965 in crypto-currency, which he is now claiming back.
Also rejecting the claims about the Ferrari, Mr Tager insisted that the car was given by Rosemarie Wurm after she ‘offered to pay for a new and expensive car as a gift for him which he was grateful to accept’.
Mr Amini then arranged for the car to be shipped from Germany to the UK and put in his company’s name so that it could be used for promotions and marketing.
Far from holding onto items belonging to Vanessa or her company, Mr Amini insists that she has possession of numerous luxury items which belong to him, and is counter-suing for their return.
These include four Rolexes valued at around £126,000, £30,000-worth of rings and necklaces, and ‘handmade Cashmere Persian art pieces worth £20,000.’
Both Ms Wurm and Mr Amini are suing for possession of the £45,000 worth of high end clothes.
In addition, Mr Amini’s company says Ms Wurm still owes Maslife £598,000 for shares she pledged to buy.
The case recently reached London’s High Court as lawyers unsuccessfully applied to have Ms Wurm’s currently presented claim struck out on the basis that ‘her pleaded case in respect of her investments in Maslife is a mess’.
That application was refused. Judge Gleeson also refused Ms Wurm and her mother’s bid for full disclosure of Mr Amini and Maslife’s accounts, pending a full trial.
The case will now return to court at a later date.
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