The True Story Behind Gunther's Millions
Spoilers ahead for Gunther's Millions on Netflix.
The story goes: a German Countess named Karlotta Leibenstein (also spelled Carlotta Liebenstein) died in 1992. Upon her death, she left her entire $80 million fortune to her beloved dog, Gunther III. That money has remained with Gunther's descendants—making Gunther the German Shepard the richest dog in the world.
"Karlotta Leibenstein was a German countess who resided in Munich," Lucy Clarkson, head of PR for Gunther, says in episode one of Gunther's Millions on Netflix. "And her husband was university professor who came to Germany as a refugee from Hungary. They got their fortune from his amazing pharmaceutical company, which made them so much money. In February of 1992, the Countess passed away. When she died, she had no direct relatives, no one close to her, and she gave everything to her dog, Gunther, who she loved so much. And then, the Gunther Trust was created to make sure the money stayed with Gunther and the bloodline."
Here's the thing: Karlotta Leibenstein never existed. But Gunther is supposedly one of the wealthiest dogs in the world. So what's true?
The entire story is a tale created by Maurizio Mian, a scion of Istituto Gentili, an Italian pharmaceutical company that was purchased by Merck. "The dog’s role appears to be little more than a joke that’s carried on for decades," the Associated Press reported in 2021, "and there is no evidence of a German countess." In 1995, Mian told an Italian newspaper that the countess "was just an invention to publicize the philosophy" of his foundation.
In Netflix's Gunther's Millions, Mian admits that he invented Gunther's story. The truth comes out in the last episode. The picture of "Karlotta" (above) was a German woman who helped Mian's family for tax reasons. She was a good friend of his mother—but no Countess. (He does not share the name of the person.)
"After so many years of questions and answers," Mian says, "I think I need to tell the story as it is." He says this friend of his mother's was "the perfect person to take control of the bank accounts and all the assets in Liechtenstein. But she never existed with the name of Karlotta Leibenstein." Her son who supposedly committed suicide was entirely fictional.
The owner of the original Gunther? Mian's girlfriend at the time, Antonella Signorini.
In Gunther's Millions, she says, "Gunther was mine. Why is his name Gunther? Because Gunther was Brigette Bardot's husband. And 'the third' because it was our third German shepherd." Signorini says the dog was basically hers and Mian's together. "Maurizio immediately fell in love with this dog. He was in love with him."
Mian says, "I really felt that this dog was my very, very best friend." But Gunther III soon became sick. Signorini got Gunther in 1980, and he became very sick in 1984. Mian, then, started treating him with osteoporosis drugs, and Gunther improved. "The story became a huge success," she says.
After Gunther healed, she says, "Maurizio made the dog the center of all his aspirations. I started to feel some resentment towards Maurizio." Soon, he was using Signorini's Gunther as a publicity stunt.
In 1992, Mian's mother's friend, whose name was on bank accounts for the family, was dying, so he had the idea of leaving the inheritance to Gunther. "It was a carefully curated decision," he says, "a financial artifice for taxes. So, to make a new approach, I created the story of the Countess."
And the world fell for it.
Watch Gunther's Millions on Netflix
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