Robert Ebert, a British former banker, has launched a claim at London's High Court against Ferrari, seeking millions of pounds over his conviction for a fatal crash he blames on faulty brakes. In June 2015, Ebert struck and killed security guard Ku Lap-chi while driving his Ferrari 458 Spider to work in Hong Kong. He was convicted of causing death by dangerous driving and served 14 months of a 22-month sentence before being deported. The case matters because Ebert is attempting to overturn the narrative of his conviction by shifting blame onto the manufacturer.

Ebert maintains the collision occurred because his brakes suddenly failed, though the Hong Kong judge rejected this, preferring a Ferrari employee's evidence that such a failure was "impossible" over the banker's own expert. Ebert, formerly a senior figure at Deutsche Bank, argues that thousands of Ferraris — including his £200,000 model — were later recalled over a braking problem that he says supports his account. He has now filed a pre-action bid to compel Ferrari to release documents revealing what the firm knew about the issue at the time of his criminal trial.