After the uproar surrounding a joint book project by Cathy Hummels and her brother because of the use of a non-existent doctorate, the public prosecutor’s office has now dropped the case against Hummels. No evidence of the crime could be provided, the Munich I public prosecutor’s office announced. The case against Hummels’ brother Sebastian Fischer was also dropped after payment of a fine in the low four-figure range.
The background is a planned book project by the two siblings, which the publisher has since stopped. Influencer Hummels, who made her depression story public a few years ago, wanted to publish a book with her brother – a doctor – entitled “Out of the Shadows – Your Way Out of Depression”. On a book cover that had already been published, Fischer was named with a doctorate – although he does not have one. Hummels, in turn, had repeatedly referred to her brother as a “doctor” in public and on social media.
The public prosecutor’s office therefore saw initial suspicion of criminal liability for title misuse. However, Hummels’ behavior alone does not automatically constitute an offense, the public prosecutor’s office explained. “In this respect, it cannot be proven that she acted in a targeted manner and, in particular, that she acted based on a joint plan.”
The 36-year-old herself had stressed in an earlier statement that she had not deliberately deceived the public, but had simply meant her brother’s profession. “Like many people, for me, doctor and physician were the same thing and nothing more than a job title.” After the case was dropped, her lawyer told the German Press Agency: “All investigations against Cathy Hummels were immediately dropped due to a lack of suspicion of a crime, as she had not acted unlawfully under any circumstances.”
Regarding the accusations against Fischer, the public prosecutor stated that he had signed the author’s contract, in which he was listed as Dr. in the rubric and signature line, without asking the publisher to correct it. But this could not simply be considered as misuse of titles. Especially since the accused is currently actually doing his doctorate and probably assumed that he was entitled to use the title until the book was published.
For this reason, and given that further extensive investigations would have been necessary, the public interest in prosecution could be eliminated by paying a fine to two non-profit organizations, the public prosecutor’s office explained.
Fischer’s lawyer told the dpa: “The discontinuance of the proceedings means that my client is still considered innocent, which he is. He has done nothing wrong. We only agreed to a fine because spending more time on the matter would have only caused unnecessary costs.”
