This is the true story of the dog worth $400,000,000 in Netflix's new doc
We've seen some truly wild stories told in Netflix's documentaries, many of them concerning animals, Tiger King anyone? Or what about Don't F**k with Cats in 2019? But now Netflix may have released their truly wildest one yet - Gunther's Millions aka the true story of a dog worth $400,000,000.
And get this, the fact that the dog is a multi-millionaire is only the tip of the iceberg of this crazy story.
So how does a dog become a millionaire? And who is responsible for looking after him? This is the true story of Gunther and his trustee Maurizio Mian.
Who is Gunther and how is he worth $400,000,000?
Gunther VI is said to be the latest dog in a long line of German Shepherds all named Gunther, owned originally by a wealthy German woman named Carlotta Liebenstein.
The original Gunther was supposedly named Gunther after Carlotta's son who had died by suicide. His descendants have all been called Gunther too, with Gunther VI the current Gunther.
When Carlotta died in 1992 she had no family members left to give her fortune to, which came from her husband's pharmaceutical company, and so she left it in a trust for Gunther and his descendants.
Gunther now has 27 staff members catering to his needs and has villas around the world including in Italy and Madonna's former home in Miami.
As the documentary shows he has an entire PR team including the head of PR Lucy Clarkson and his spokesperson Lee Dahlberg.
Who is Maurizio Mian?
Maurizio Mian's family were said to be very close with the Liebensteins, and Maurizio grew up with their son Gunther, calling Carlotta his aunt.
He attended medical school and then specialised in pharmacology, before working as a university professor until he was 37 years old.
After the countess died she reportedly left Maurizio's mother in charge of Gunther and his money, however as Maurizio's mother also started to become unwell Maurizio took over the responsibility of being Gunther's trustee.
So far so normal right? Well not exactly. After being in charge of Gunther for a while Maurizio had much bigger aspirations for the dog.
What happened next?
Well Maurizio and Gunther moved to Miami where Maurizio auditioned "young and beautiful" people to come and live in the home. It kinda had a feel of a very early reality show.
Once the new people had moved in they were called the "Burgundians" and they were meant to care and look after Gunther. They lived under 13 commandments and there were cameras all over the property.
They were often watched by people in white lab coats, who were recording their behaviour and how they interacted with Gunther. They were actively encouraged to have sex with each other and orgies were reportedly daily occurrences in the house for The Burgundians.
What happened to the Burgundians?
After a while the Burgundians were over when Maurizio decided to move Gunther back to Italy.
There, he bought two football teams and hired porn actors La Ciocciolina and Valentine Demy to be the faces of one of the teams.
But the Burgundians weren't totally over as Maurizio decided to make an Italian version, but this new version would include Italian celebrities including Fabrizio Corona.
They were called the 'Magnificent Five' and each given a necklace that had five lights, each representing a different aspect for the ideal life. Once they achieved that aspect of life, a new light glowed on the necklace.
This wasn't all though. The Magnificent Five were encouraged to procreate a ‘generation of truly happy people.’
One of the members of The Magnificent Five has since described the experience as "saddest moments of my life" and said they felt like they were brain washed.
Does the money actually belong to Gunther?
Ok, so this is where things get even more confusing in the documentary, as it turns out the story about the countess wasn't even true.
Maurizio had invented the story of the countess and her son, and there is no evidence a woman named Carlotta Liebenstein even existed.
Instead Maurizio used the story to create publicity about his own trust. The $400million Gunther supposedly inherited? Yeah it was actually Maurizio's family's own money to begin with.
But rather than paying high Italian taxes, the Mian family put the money in the dog's name and registered it in an off-shore account in Lichtenstein.
So who is Gunther then?
The original Gunther actually belonged to Maurizio's girlfriend Antonella, and he fell in love with the dog.
All the new Gunthers are actually descendants of Antonella's original dog.
Sorry but this absolutely wild, I'm going to need a sit down after this.
Gunther's Millions is available on Netflix now
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