MEET the richest dog in the world Gunther IV who inherited a whopping £300million after his owner died – or so we thought.
The spoilt German shepherd has spent his life living in luxury and even owned a huge Miami mansion where Madonna once lived.
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He also has a villa in the Bahamas, has run football clubs in Italy and gets driven around by a chauffeur in his convertible BMW or goes out on a mega yacht at sea.
And when the lucky pooch gets home from a long day of impressing the locals Gunther has a personal chef on hand to serve him steak dinners and 27 members of staff to care for his every want and need.
The dog became so famous that Netflix even released a four-part documentary telling the ins and outs of his ludicrous lifestyle and insane popularity.
Gunther’s team once claimed they were forced to use stunt doubles of the pup when they travelled the world after fears someone would target the dog for his millions.
However, the money is actually controlled by Italian entrepreneur and pharmaceutical heir Maurizio Mian.
The 66-year-old is the brains behind the dog’s success and is the CEO of The Gunther Corporation, and Gunther’s guardian.
The company uses Gunther as a figurehead for its investments.
HOW DID GUNTHER GET HIS CASH?
The fascinating yet bizarre tale of Gunther’s wealth comes from his grandfather Gunther III.
The money has been passed through generations after the first dog was given an inheritance worth over £277million after his owner died in 1992.
A German Countess called Karlotta Leibenstein left her entire massive estate to her beloved dog as she had no other family.
Lucy Clarkson, head of PR for Gunther told the story saying: “Karlotta Leibenstein was a German countess who resided in Munich.
“She got the fortune from an amazing pharmaceutical company, which made 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.”
Since then, Gunther’s team has made a number of impressive business decisions to keep up their investments – causing the dog’s wealth to soar.
The best investment being a massive mansion in Florida that was once used my iconic pop star Madonna.
The beloved pup had over 8,400sq ft to roam in the estate but apparently his favourite place to relax was Madonna’s old bedroom.
Last year the mega mansion was sold for a staggering £21million.
But one of the more unnecessary purchases was two Italian football clubs and hiring porn stars to run them.
In 2002 the Gunther Reform Trust bought Italian side Pisa – then a third division team.
Gunther IV was named as honorary club president and oversaw a number of key decisions in the club.
Fans of rival team Livorno even once showed off a banner reading “poisoned meatballs for Gunther”, according to Goal.
Mian and Gunther then had the clever idea of buying a second team lower down the leagues in U.S. Citta di Pontedera.
Shockingly they hired famous porn star Ilona Staller as the club “godmother” as fellow porn star Valentine Demy became president.
FOOLING THE WORLD
Despite the story sounding so bizarre and unusual, millions across the globe fell in love with the world’s richest pooch.
He even made it into the Guinness World Records (GWR) book and was in hundreds of newspapers in the late 90s.
However, all was too good to be true and the real story of Gunther’s millions finally came out.
With GWR being the first to sniff out an issue as they took away his title in 1999 and never mentioned his name again.
A spokesperson at the time said there was not enough evidence to support the claims around Gunther’s wealth meaning the record was void.
But it took until 2023 for the facts to be officially laid on the table.
When filming a documentary, Mian confessed to making up the entire story surrounding the Countess.
Filmmakers got him to admit to the hoax after they looked for the old woman’s birth and death certificates but never found them.
Gunther is obviously a real dog and he is actually from a very wealthy family but his intriguing tale isn’t true.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
The money actually belonged to Mian’s rich family who would spend like crazy giving themselves and Gunther the perfect life.
Even the Gunther himself actually belonged to Mian’s ex-girlfriend, Antonella Signorini.
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