Documentary fans are in for a treat thanks to the arrival of Gunther\u2019s Millions on Netflix<\/a> \u2013 a four-part investigation into the world\u2019s richest dog that needs to be seen to be believed.<\/p>\n The German Shepherd, Gunther VI, lives in the lap of luxury and is said to have inherited $400 million from his late owner Countess Karlotta Leibenstein in 1992.<\/p>\n However, there\u2019s an even stranger side to the fortune \u2013 all of which is explored in the new docuseries.<\/p>\n But who was Countess Karlotta Leibenstein? And was she actually a real person? Here\u2019s everything you need to know about the figure who plays such a large role in Gunther\u2019s story.<\/p> Countess Karlotta Leibenstein is a mysterious figure behind Gunther III \u2013 a German Shepherd who made headlines after becoming the richest dog in the world.<\/p>\n According to Maurizio Mian, the handler of Gunther VI (Gunther III\u2019s great-grandson), the original dog inherited $400 million after his owner, Countess Karlotta Leibenstein, died in 1992.<\/p>\n After her son reportedly died by suicide at the age of 26, Leibenstein was said to have been left heirless, with Mian telling the documentary: \u201cHer son was gone, she had no close relatives, and her husband had already died. She was alone.\u201d<\/p>\n Mian originally claimed that Leibenstein set up a trust, naming her dog Gunter III as the beneficiary, and placed Mian\u2019s mother, Maria Gabriella Gentili, in charge of enforcing the trust.<\/p>\n However, she passed the responsibility onto Mian, who became Gunther III\u2019s caretaker and went about ensuring that when Gunther died, his offspring or clone (yes, really) would become the new beneficiary.<\/p>\n Those who\u2019ve seen the documentary, though, will learn that the story, which received a huge amount of publicity throughout the \u201990s and early 2000s, wasn\u2019t exactly true.<\/p>\n Mian later admits that Gunther\u2019s fortune actually came from his mother Gentili, who was a pharmaceutical pioneer. Through her company, the Gentili Institute, she developed a drug that was effective in treating osteoporosis and bone disease and went on to make millions.<\/p>\n In order to avoid being hit by Italian taxes, Gentili transferred the money to a bank in Liechtenstein in the name of the Countess, who was a German national.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mother, for a long time, had been bringing all the earnings related to our company to Liechtenstein. But this was against Italian law,\u201d he says in the documentary.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Countess was German, and my mother considered her a very close friend. In the end, the money was transferred in the name of the Countess. All the money in the bank in Liechtenstein was in her name. But the real owner was my mother.\u201d<\/p>\n As for how the dog came to inherit the funds, he explained that when the Countess became ill, she set up a trust for the dog, made Gentili the curator and appointed a Bahamian lawyer as the trustee.<\/p>\n However, it turns out that this new explanation of events wasn\u2019t accurate either.<\/p>\n Despite being the backbone of the Gunther story, Countess Karlotta Leibenstein never actually existed.<\/p>\n After Gunther\u2019s Millions director Aurelien Leturgie explains that they haven\u2019t been able to locate death certificates or any record of Leibenstein or her husband existing, Mian reveals that she was just a character they came up with.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was not a Countess. She was an avatar,\u201d he said, while his ex-partner Carla Riccitelli explains that the supposed photographs of the Countess are actually of one of Mian\u2019s aunts.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a woman that helped us for tax reasons,\u201d he said. \u201cShe was a German woman and a very good friend of my mother. So it 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 Carlotta Liebenstein.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that the Countess\u2019s son was also a hoax and when asked why he made it up, Mien said: \u201cHe was maybe an extrapolation of myself.\u201d<\/p>\n As for Gunther the dog, in reality the original Gunther belonged to Mien\u2019s ex-girlfriend Antonella Signorini. \u201cMaurizio immediately fell in love with this dog. He adored him. Basically he was our dog because we shared everything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Gunther\u2019s Millions is available to stream on Netflix. <\/strong>Looking for something else to watch? Check out our guide to the\u00a0best series on Netflix<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0best movies on Netflix<\/a>. You can also visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>, or our\u00a0Drama<\/a> hub for all the latest news.<\/strong><\/p>\n Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only \u00a31 with delivery to your home\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0<\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0<\/strong>Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div> <\/body><\/html>\n The German aristocrat is said to have given millions to her dog Gunther \u2013\u00a0but who was she and was she real? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":29604,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/who-was-countess-karlotta-leibenstein-gunthers-millions-explained.png",1355,903,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/who-was-countess-karlotta-leibenstein-gunthers-millions-explained-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/who-was-countess-karlotta-leibenstein-gunthers-millions-explained-300x200.png",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/who-was-countess-karlotta-leibenstein-gunthers-millions-explained-768x512.png",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/who-was-countess-karlotta-leibenstein-gunthers-millions-explained-1024x682.png",800,533,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/who-was-countess-karlotta-leibenstein-gunthers-millions-explained.png",1355,903,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2023\/02\/who-was-countess-karlotta-leibenstein-gunthers-millions-explained.png",1355,903,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The German aristocrat is said to have given millions to her dog Gunther \u2013\u00a0but who was she and was she real?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/29603"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Who was Countess Karlotta Leibenstein?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/02\/GunthersMillionsS1E1001316161-fb9bca4.png?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Was Countess Karlotta Leibenstein a real person?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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