Ted Maher - Framed in Monte Carlo: How I Was Wrongfully Convicted for a Billionaires Fiery Death

Copyright 2021 by Ted Maher, Bill Hayes, and Jennifer Thomas

Foreword copyright 2021 by Michael Griffith, Esq.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Kai Texel

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-5586-4

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-5587-1

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my mother and my sister,
who have stood by me through everything.

Thank you for always remembering who I am and what I stand for,
and for never believing an untrue word spoken about me.
Ted Maher

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

BY MICHAEL GRIFFITH, ESQ.

T his casethe proceedings in which Ted Maher was tried in Monaco for the 1999 death of world banking icon Edmond Safrais without question the most perplexing and puzzling Ive ever been involved in.

I am an international criminal defense lawyer. For the last thirty-five years I have represented Americans imprisoned and beleaguered in foreign countries all over the globe. My very first solo defense case was of Billy Hayes in 1970, which was made into the motion picture Midnight Express, earning it infamy across the world. Since then, my work has taken me behind the unforgiving walls and into the cold no-mans-land of prisiones, cezaevleri, and maisons de arrest in over two dozen countries. From defending US soldiers in the Okinawan rape case to exposing corruption in Ecuador, Ive been involved in actions and litigations that run the gamut from kidnappings, to robberies, to murders and moreall occurring on some pretty shaky ground.

But in this caseTeds casethe complex circumstances in the chain of events throughout are unprecedented. And they are indisputably compellingespecially to those of us with a hunger-for-truth mindset!

The cast of characters alone is far beyond what even the best fiction mystery writer could come up with: Green Beretturnedneonatal nurse Ted Maher; insanely wealthy, world-renowned couple Edmond and Lily Safra; the Safras security team borne from the Israeli Mossad; the Russian mafia; the French and Monegasque legal team of dubious ability and vast inexperience; Teds intense and mysterious wife, Heidi; the ominous judicial team that ruled Teds trials in Monaco; the confused and disjointed police and firefighters there; and essentially every other human who placed a fingerprint on this case.

Even more compelling is how that cast of characters was thrown into this doomed drama, which as it climaxed, resulted in the needless deaths of two innocent victims and the collateral destruction of Ted Maher.

I continue to be haunted by this caseby the trial, in particular. Never have I felt such frustration and at times, anger, at the roadblocks that kept me from helping my client to the fullest. Moreover, the public around the world remains in the dark about the most shocking details of this tragic drama.

When Safra died, the media went crazy. Headlines around the world screamed out about the death of one of the worlds wealthiest menand the tangled mystery that scorched every aspect of his murder. When Ted was finally released in 2007, he was interviewed on Dateline, 48 Hours, Inside Edition; Dominick Dunnes Power, Privilege and Justice, and others. The public interest in this case has been unabated, from its inception up until the present.

It is a saga that appears to have no end, unless and until the truth and nothing but the truth is finally known.

This book is a huge step toward that next installment.

PREFACE

I knew I would forget nothing about this entire story. Ever.

But when I was imprisoned, they did everything they could to break me.

When I started a journal, they took it from me.

When I started writing again, they confiscated it again.

Every time I wrote anything down, they took it away. I pissed them off so much. Finally, I was brought before the prison director.

Why are you doing this, Mr. Maher? he demanded.

This is my life, I told him. I want people to know whats happened to me!

He looked confused, then arrogant. Matter-of-fact, indignant.

But Mr. Maher, no one can know what has been going on in your life...

Excuse me?! My senses raged. No one can know? Is that what youre telling me? Well, Im going to make sure that everyone knows! I screamed. You can take what I write, you can strip-search me every day, you can tear my cell apart every dayyou can take the shit I write every day, every week, every month, for years on end. You can keep me in that cellalonein my underwear with that hole for a toilet, and you can leave that light on twenty-four hours a day. But you wont break me! No matter what you do, Ill never turn into some feeble little nothing, lying curled up in a ball, filthy and shaking in the corner.

I pulled a couple more handwritten scraps of paper out of my shirt and threw them at him.

Here, take these, too! And come back for the next thing I write! I dont need to write it; its all coming from here! I pointed to my headmy mind, my memory.

And thats one thing you bastards cant take!

Ted Maher

INTRODUCTION

BY BILL HAYES

S ixty-seven-year-old Edmond J. Safra was listed by Forbes magazine as one of 1999s two hundred wealthiest individuals in the world. With assets in the billions, Safra was high-profile in the international banking community and beyond, for his wealth and business acumen.

Safra owned controlling stakes in both Safra Republic and Republic New York Corporation (RNB)banks he founded and often referred to as his children. His legal war with American Express over the sale of his Trade Development Bank in 1983 became legendary and long.

Shortly before his death, he was reportedly collaborating with the FBI to expose a money-laundering operation allegedly perpetrated by the Russian mafia. But decades later, evidence is emerging about the true nature of Safras whistleblowing that indicates it was the actual cause of his demise.

And while it may come as no surprise that Safras dealings werent always on the up and up, it is a revelation that the ramifications of his shady transactions extend to today, particularly those involving Russia and the United Statess continued face-offs with President Vladmir Putin: from the contentious Magnitsky Act, lobbied by Safras former partner, Bill Browder, to the controversial Trump Tower meeting during the 2016 presidential election.

His personal life was also one of heavy interest and scrutiny. As Parkinsons disease brought Safras declining health increasingly into question, the attention to his huge inheritance also increasedby family members and outsiders alike.