Update on Markus Götz Junginger
The story is just starting to develop
This update is verbatim the same as the video presentation. Update to the update at the end.
Markus Götz Junginger was the Chief Technology officer for one of the big players in the auto parts supplier business, Dräxlmaier. He was exposed previously in a blog post and video for a variety of fraudulent activities. This is an update.
Mr Junginger was fired from his Job as Chief Technology Officer on March 27th 2023 with a curt one-sentence statement about his person, neither thanking him for his work nor announcing a successor.
The research on his fake PhD and other fraudulent activities was published on March 6th. The post received only small attention until the weekend before his firing when activity increased. The post and video received thousands of views in the following days, mostly from Dräxlmaier staff and other automobile industry insiders. The story was published in the German auto industry magazine Automobilwoche, and then taken down two days later. The reasons remain unclear, but it is well-known that journalists in the auto business are on exceedingly friendly terms with the corporations they report on.
After the publication, anonymous whistleblowers came forward with tales of more corporate wrongdoing. That is also when information emerged from multiple sources that the Fake PhD Investigator Substack blog was blacklisted from Dräxlmaier networks with a warning of “urgent security risk”. The ban, however, did not affect traffic volume to the information.
Meanwhile, Mr Junginger changed his Linkedin profile. From the wildly exaggerated claim of having 25 years of experience in the automobile industry, he is now a “wanderer between industries and continents”. He also claims “gardening leave”, which commonly refers to a forced leave while being a fully paid employee. This would contradict Dräxlmaiers statement that he left the company’s employ on March 31st 2023.
Previously not emphasized was that Markus Götz Junginger worked for 5 years at consulting firm MHP without being found out. MHP is a consulting firm with 2800 employees, appears highly image-conscious, and even sponsors a local football team.
The blog post and video received widespread attention at MHP offices in Stuttgart, Frankfurt and even Atlanta. Senior Mangement executives at the firm are some of the 32 subscribers to the Fake PhD Investigator blog and the news about Mr Junginger appears to have resulted in a corporate shakeup. During his time at MHP Markus Götz Junginger reported to Dr. Markus Kirchler, who does have a legitimate PhD. He is one of the most senior employees and has been a member of the Board of Management of MHP since the inception of the Board.
Days after Mr Junginger’s firing at Dräxlmaier, Dr Kirchler was quietly removed from the Board of Management and is now only listed at Partner at the firm. MHP has not disclosed if it found that Mr Junginger defrauded the company financially.
Mr Junginger still faces the possibilty of civil and criminal complaints against him. There is ample evidence for a conviction on the grounds of title fraud for the use of a fraudulent PhD, and he would not be the first person ordered to pay back salaries that he collected on the basis of having presented a fake degree.
Head-hunters that vetted and recommended Markus Götz Junginger may also be liable for any assurances they made about him. And Dräxlmaier still faces tough questions about Mr Junginger’s allegation of scandalous product quality issues that remain unaddressed. The affair, it seems, may be far from over for those involved.
Update 1: April 10 2023. Markus Götz Junginger has finally gotten around to deleting his LinkedIn Account. Perhaps this means a lawyer advised him to do so, because it seemed he was in no hurry to do so himself after he was let go. Regardless, A July 2021 version and a March 2023 version have been archived. If anyone needs a copy, please contact internetsecrets@duck.com
I heard he also had to spend a few days in pre-trial detention because of flight and cover-up risk.