For more than 20 yrs, a line of German shepherds named Gunther has been presented in information tales as the wealthy beneficiaries of a German countess.

The tale seems to be a ruse established by Maurizio Mian, the scion of an Italian pharmaceutical business, who has applied the tale of the globe-trotting canine to market actual estate profits and other jobs.

The Connected Push noted very last 7 days that a pet dog, Gunther VI, was providing a Miami mansion that it had acquired from Madonna for $7.5 million in 2000 for $31.75 million. The story cited promises from Gunther’s “handler” that the dog was from a long line of canine bequeathed the fortune of a German countess.

While the mansion is in actuality owned and remaining bought by the Gunther Corp., according to Miami-Dade County home records, the dog’s part seems to be small more than a joke that is carried on for many years.

And there is no evidence of a German countess.

The AP documented on the story right after acquiring a press launch from publicists representing the true estate agents who had the listing.

“The AP posted a tale that did not meet our specifications and should really not have been posted. We did not do our owing diligence in the reporting approach. We have corrected the story, and we apologize,” AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton said in a assertion.

Mian explained to an Italian newspaper in 1995 that the countess “was just an creation to publicize the philosophy” of his foundation. Mian at other details has claimed his confessions about the countess are the serious hoax and the pet tales are, in actuality true.

Mian’s individual revenue appears to have occur from his family’s Italian pharmaceutical enterprise. Istituto Gentili, which developed a remedy…