The Bad News? Your Fiancé Lied About Her True Identity. The Good News? She's Secretly One Of The Richest Women In The World…

Dating is hard. Even when you finally meet the right person, it takes a while before you really know their whole story. In those early dating days, everyone's putting their best foot forward—and maybe quietly burying a few inconvenient details. Maybe your new partner hasn't mentioned a previous marriage. Maybe they have a kid you don't know about yet. Maybe they're drowning in credit card debt. Or maybe they're hiding something much darker, something they're hoping to keep under wraps long enough for you to fall in love and stick around.

And let's be honest—there's a good chance you're hiding a few secrets too. Maybe you fudge your age. Maybe you're not actually a dog person, but pretend to be for their golden retriever. Maybe you said you love hiking but would rather chew glass than spend a Saturday climbing a hill. Most of these secrets are harmless, maybe even funny in hindsight. But sometimes, the lies people carry into a relationship are a little more… complicated.

Take the story of a young German engineer named Jan Klatten. Back in the mid-1980s, Jan was working at BMW when he met a smart, pretty intern named Susanne Kant. She was ambitious, low-key, and refreshingly down-to-earth. Jan quickly fell for her. But Susanne was hiding a secret. In fact, everything about Susanne's life was a lie. Even her last name, "Kant," wasn't actually her last name. Now, normally, when the truth finally came out, this would be a major breakup-worthy personal foul. But Jan was a little more forgiving… because, as it turned out, Susanne "Kant"  was secretly one of the richest women in the world. And technically, she was Jan's boss's boss's boss's boss 🙂

Jan Klatten, Susanne Klatten (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Heiress in Disguise

Susanne Hanna Ursula Quandt was born on April 28, 1962, in Bad Homburg, Germany. She is the daughter of Herbert Quandt, the legendary industrialist who saved BMW from collapse in the late 1950s, and Johanna Quandt, his third wife and former secretary. When Herbert died in 1982, he left his massive fortune—including majority ownership of BMW—to Johanna, Susanne, and her brother Stefan Quandt.

Susanne could have taken the pampered heiress route, but she didn't. After high school, she studied business and economics in Frankfurt, followed by coursework in marketing and management at the University of Buckingham. She then earned an MBA from IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland, with a focus on advertising. But her education was just the beginning.

Determined to build credibility on her own terms, Susanne held real jobs at real companies. She worked for Young & Rubicam in Frankfurt for two years in the early 1980s and held internships with Dresdner Bank in London, McKinsey's Munich office, and Reuschel & Co. In many of these roles, she used the alias Susanne Kant—a way to avoid preferential treatment and ensure she was judged by her own work, not her family's wealth.

Sefan, Johanna, and Susanne Quandt (FRANK RUMPENHORST/AFP/Getty Images)

Meeting Jan Klatten

Susanne's father, Herbert, died on June 2, 1982, a month after Susanne turned 20. Upon her father's death, Susanne, her 16-year-old brother Stefan, and their mother Johanna quietly inherited just over 50% of BMW.

At the time, Susanne "Kant" was working as a trainee at the BMW factory in Regensburg, Germany. One day, she met one of the company's engineers, Jan Klatten. The two instantly felt a connection and began dating. Jan had absolutely no idea Susanne Kant was anything other than a 20-something intern at BMW. He certainly had no idea that she was an extremely wealthy heiress. Not only that, but as one of the three majority owners of BMW, technically speaking, Susanne was Jan's boss, boss', boss', boss', boss.

Not surprisingly, even as they got to know each other better and began dating exclusively, Susanne continued using a fake name because, in her own words:

"I wanted to find out if he really loved me."

He did. The couple married in 1990 and briefly moved to Boston, where Susanne took another low-profile internship. After returning to Europe, she began taking board seats in various family companies, officially stepping into her role as one of Germany's most powerful business figures.

Jan Klatten, Susanne Klatten (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

The Scandal

In the summer of 2007, Susanne traveled alone to the luxurious Lanserhof resort in Innsbruck, Austria. There, she met a man named Helg Sgarbi, who struck up a conversation by commenting on the book she was reading, The Alchemist. He claimed to be Brazilian and said he worked in high-level finance. Susanne—normally reserved and extremely private—was charmed. She gave him her phone number and, unusually, revealed her real identity.

What she didn't know was that Sgarbi was actually a Swiss-born con artist and gigolo, working in coordination with an Italian cult leader named Ernano Barretta. The two had orchestrated a seduction and blackmail scheme. Within weeks, Susanne and Sgarbi began a secret affair, meeting discreetly at hotels in Munich and the south of France.

Sgarbi spun an elaborate tale about being hunted by the mafia after a supposed accident in Miami. He convinced Susanne to give him over $10 million in cash—delivered in an 88-pound suitcase in a Holiday Inn parking garage. A short time later, he demanded even more money, this time claiming he needed $45 million. When she refused, he sent her photos and a sex tape secretly recorded during one of their encounters.

Meanwhile, another storm was brewing: a German documentary had just aired detailing the Quandt family's Nazi-era history, including the use of forced labor and the connection between her grandfather, Günther Quandt, and Joseph Goebbels. Under enormous stress, Susanne initially denied the affair to her husband Jan, but when Sgarbi escalated his threats, she went to the police.

On January 14, 2008, Sgarbi and Barretta showed up to a meeting expecting a payoff. Instead, they were arrested by Austrian commandos. Sgarbi was extradited to Germany and sentenced to six years in prison after confessing in court. The money Susanne had given him was never recovered.

Remarkably, her husband, Jan, forgave her. But the marriage would not last forever. In 2018, after nearly three decades together, Susanne and Jan quietly separated.

Business Leadership

In 1993, Susanne joined the board of Altana, a pharmaceutical and chemicals manufacturer in which she held a controlling 50.1% stake. Over the years, she transformed the company into a world-class operation generating billions in annual revenue. In 2009, she bought out the remaining public shareholders and took Altana private.

In 1997, she and her brother Stefan joined the BMW supervisory board, stepping into the roles previously held by their mother, Johanna. Susanne became an influential force in the company's strategy, playing a key role in major decisions such as the 2000 divestiture of Rover and the ousting of CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder. Her sharp instincts and hands-on approach echoed the leadership style of her father.

Susan and Stefan's mother, Johanna Quandt, died in 2015. At that point, the siblings consolidated majority ownership of BMW. Today, Susanne has a net worth of $30 billion, making her the richest woman in Germany. Stefan is worth $25 billion.

The Moral of the Story

If you're dating someone, even if it's been months or years, there's a good chance they're hiding something from you. But who knows! Maybe you're secretly engaged to one of the richest people in the world!