“Some mean-spirited people might claim he’s finished—or at least dangerously close. But that’s simply not true. Not at all. Mr. Huber, a small, slender man with a bald head, strongly disagrees. As always with him, it’s a matter of perspective. If you look at life from the right angle, it suddenly becomes the complete opposite of what you once thought it was. Suddenly, Mr. Huber is a success story of sorts. A charming rogue and ladies’ man who spent wild, jet-set years in Asia, the U.S., South America, and the Canary Islands. A man who grew up in a Bavarian village as the son of a tailor, trained as a machinist, churned out brilliant ideas and business plans, and quite rightfully began to swim in money. Unlike all the boring penny-pinchers in his adopted home of Hanover, he’s at least lived through the big, bold adventures.

The trouble is, there’s another side to the story. There are, in fact, some alternative facts when it comes to Mr. Huber. Let’s briefly list the rough framework of the past few decades: four stints in prison, adding up to ten years behind bars; four failed marriages; three children he hardly knows. Mr. Huber is now 70 years old. He receives a state welfare payment of 400 euros a month and owes around one million euros in debt. Others might call that a catastrophe and curse their fate—but Mr. Huber wouldn’t be Mr. Huber if he couldn’t find a way to see even this mess in a positive light. Beaming, he says: ‘I’ve been unbelievably lucky. (…)’”