German Magazine's 'Fake Stories' Reporter Suspected of Misusing Donations

It remains unclear at this point exactly how many donors sent their money to Relotius, as the magazine apparently wasn’t aware of his fundraising activities.

Claas Relotius, a former Der Spiegel journalist who recently admitted to falsifying reports and disseminating fake news, apparently also embezzled donations he collected from readers, according to the magazine.

Relotius’ fundraising effort was reportedly related to a story "about a Syrian sibling couple who live on the streets as orphans in Turkey", that was published in Der Spiegel in July 2016, with the magazine pointing out that the article’s veracity is now in doubt.

At this time, it remains unclear exactly how many donors responded to the reporter’s call, as well as how much money was raised and what happened to it, as "the editors were not aware of Relotius' fundraising campaign".

"Spiegel will make all collected information available to the public prosecutor's office as part of a criminal complaint", the magazine stated.

Earlier this month, Der Spiegel has announced that one of its star reporters resigned due to committing journalistic fraud "on a grand scale".

READ MORE: Der Spiegel Exposes One of Its Top Reporters as ‘Fake Stories’ Creator

An internal investigation reportedly revealed that Claas Relotius, a 33-year old staff who won numerous accolades, including CNN Journalist of the Year award in 2014, and who was named German Reporter of the Year earlier this month, has been inventing stories and faking interviews for several years.