Celebrity German Journalist Fired For Fake News, Accused Of Embezzling Donations Using Made-Up Story On Syrian Kids

Germany’s largest selling and highly influential weekly magazine Der Spiegel said on Sunday (23 December) it would file a criminal complaint against its disgraced, former celebrity reporter Claas Relotius after it emerged he may have embezzled donations intended for Syrian street children by setting up a fake charity operation, Wall Street Journal reported.

The magazine revealed that Relotius had requested readers via email to donate money generously for children he described in his fake reports but the bank details he gave directed the funds to his own account.

The 33-year-old award winning reporter was forced to resign earlier this month after admitting to have manufactured fake stories by inventing imaginary protagonists in more than a dozen articles in the magazine's print and online editions.

Spiegel said that the Syrian children about whom Relotius wrote about probably didn’t exist and that the magazine had no knowledge of the donations sought by their former employee.

Spiegel published an article by Relotius in July 2016 about orphaned Syrian children living on the streets of Turkey. Relotius subsequently followed it up with collection of articles which he presented as an effort to bring the children to Germany.

Spiegel now believes Relotius may have simply invented one of the main protagonists and also lied about his claim on helping the kid.

Relotius also fabricated another report about Fergus Falls, a town of 14,000 people in Minneapolis, US in an attempt to portray Trump supporters as bigoted and racist.

Spiegel acknowledged that said the scam was the "worst thing that can happen to an editorial team". It apologised to its readers and promised to do everything to boost its credibility.