A 65-year-old man and former asylum seeker, Taghi B., posed as a therapist for years, even though he had no degree or qualifications. In fact, his one degree from Russia, has now been determined to be a forgery. Now, several minors reported sexual abuse during psychotherapy sessions, including a 9-year-old girl who said she was groped and molested by the man.
The suspect, who has since obtained German citizenship, worked at an adolescent psychiatric practice in Nordhausen, Germany, for months. There, he gained access to minors despite not having any legitimate credentials. Now, he is facing a string of serious allegations, including sexual assault, manipulation and financial fraud. The case has since exposed alarming failures across multiple institutions charged with protecting children.
The investigation by German public news outlet MDR INVESTIGATIV began with an anonymous tip. Parents from Nordhausen reported alleged fraud and sexual abuse involving a man posing as a therapist: Taghi B. The MDR team indicated that research revealed how a man with no verified credentials had been given access to vulnerable young patients.
The most serious allegation involves a 9-year-old girl, who was allegedly sexually abused during therapy sessions.
Her parents permitted the gynecologist who examined the child victim to speak to MDR outside the normal confidentiality clauses. Gynecologist Dr. Patricia Michaelis from Nordhausen recounted to MDR that the child reported Taghi B. had touched her chest and genitals during a session and attempted to penetrate her with his finger. The family filed complaints with the police, the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, and the Medical Association. Other families did the same.
In June 2025, the Mühlhausen public prosecutor’s office opened multiple investigations against Taghi B. for sexual harassment and serious sexual abuse. Neither Taghi B. nor Franziska S., the person who originally opened the practice, responded to requests for comment.
Notably, different parents had already become suspicious, as Taghi B.’s name appeared nowhere on the practice website or on the door sign. When the mothers contacted the Medical Association and the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians by phone, they were told that he was not registered with either body as a doctor or psychologist.
Two mothers also told MDR that Taghi B. took over treatment of their sons in the practice. Both mothers quickly became unsettled. According to them, he made exaggerated boasts about himself, downplayed their sons’ medical diagnoses, and intimidated the children. One of the boys, an eight-year-old, cried after every session and refused to return.
Other children come forward
Further victims came forward during the course of the investigation. A 15-year-old, referred to here as Lisa, had urgently sought a therapy place following a hospital stay for severe depression after experiencing sexual abuse. She turned to the practice of Franziska S. From the second appointment onwards, she was treated by Taghi B. alone. Since Franziska S. had introduced him as a colleague, Lisa had assumed he was a qualified psychotherapist.
Lisa described how his compliments made her uncomfortable and his physical contact felt inappropriate. Following a relapse involving self-harm, he is alleged to have stroked her arm for several minutes and repeatedly attempted to view intimate parts of her body. He then began sending her personal messages — among them: “Vacation with Lisa (heart emoji) First, we’ll fix you up a bit.”
He is also said to have requested meetings outside the practice. Other young people who spoke to MDR regarding Taghi B. said that he had sent them similar messages and asked to meet them.
Although Taghi B. did not even apply for a medical license until the end of that month — a requirement for any therapeutic work in a child and adolescent psychiatric practice. When he eventually submitted the necessary certificates months later, the responsible authority found that the alleged Russian qualifications were forged. The Central Office for Foreign Education confirmed this upon request to MDR.
According to MDR, the defendant arrived in Thuringia from Iran in the 1990s as an asylum seeker with his wife and two children. His name means “pious” in Arabic.
Franziska S. herself is now under investigation for billing fraud and violation of the alternative practitioner law. She is alleged to have billed Taghi B.’s treatments under her own name. The Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians has revoked her statutory health insurance license, and the State Office of Administration has suspended her license to practice medicine.
To understand how Franziska S. came to employ an unqualified man with a forged CV, investigators followed the trail back to a martial arts club Taghi B. had quietly dominated for over a decade. He arrived in Thuringia in the 1990s from Iran as an asylum seeker and has since obtained German citizenship. Over the years he built a dojo in Nordhausen — unregistered, unaffiliated — where he taught karate and aikido, predominantly to children. On paper he barely existed within the club; in practice, according to multiple former members, he ran everything.
Those same former members describe a pattern of psychological control: long private conversations, probing personal questions, an absolute intolerance of dissent, and a habit of enlisting followers for his own purposes.
Heidrun Sander, once among his closest associates, says she spent years being slowly manipulated. The group’s ethos encouraged detachment from material wealth — a convenient philosophy, it turned out, when Taghi B. asked her to fund the purchase of a permanent dojo. She handed over €140,000. The repayments came for a while, then stopped entirely. She sued. The Jena Higher Regional Court ruled in February 2026 that he still owes her more than €91,000. Looking back, she said: “I just hope no one is hurt and exempted by him like this anymore.”
This was not, it emerged, the first time he had been investigated. Thuringian prosecutors had looked into allegations of sexual harassment at the martial arts club as far back as 2021. That case was dropped. So were two earlier investigations into suspected child sexual abuse. Nothing was ever proven.
MDR now accuses authorities of systemic failure, with the response to the man’s fraud and the allegations of sexual assault. The man has now been charged with sexual harassment and an investigation into serious sexual abuse is ongoing. In addition, the Meiningen public prosecutor’s office is investigating allegations of unauthorized medical activity and fraud.
It is important to note that there is along-standing pattern of German authorities allowing migrants to obtain important roles in the health establishment despite clear cases of fraud in their background. In one of the most notable examples, the Saudi national Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, who became a high-level psychiatrist in the German health system, despite a history of fraud and death threats. Nicknamed “Dr. Google” due to his lack of medical knowledge, he would go on to ram his car into a Christmas market, killing six and wounding hundreds in a major terror attack. His case has cost millions of euros and remains ongoing.
