President Bush: Please Bring Ted Maher Home From Banana-Republic Monaco!

American Green Beret veteran and accomplished neonatal nurse Ted Maher has now been held 537 days without trial in Monaco's prison on trumped-up and false charges -- charges of causing the deaths of billionaire banker Edmond Safra and Ted's fellow nurse, Vivian Torrente on December 3, 1999. In truth, Ted fought valiantly against two armed, masked intruders to defend Edmond and Vivian and save their lives. During the struggle, Ted suffered severe knife wounds that required one hundred staples to close.

Billionaire banker Edmond Safra was cooperating with the FBI, who was investigating the IMF/Russian loans. Needing a convenient scapegoat for the murder of Safra, Monaco police subjected Ted to three days of grueling torture designed to extort a false confession from him. (see description in "BASIC TIMELINE" in Thread 1 - http://206.112.97.70/forum/a3ad8b097272d.htm ).

Monaco continues to hold Ted incommunicado, preventing him from sending or receiving mail. In fact, they restrict his communication with his family to one telephone call a week. This call is only allowed to last a few minutes and is always monitored closely to prevent any discussion of the case. Ted is forced by his jailers to take a psychotropic medication and is regularly "interrogated" by the Monaco judge -- Patricia Richet. Reports have been received that Judge Richet is a violent person who has displayed unstable behavior in the past. She allegedly has a history of assaulting a fellow judge, putting him in the hospital for a week. She also tears up letters from Ted's children in front of Ted rather than let him read them.

Hundreds of family, friends, work associates, parents of patients, and Army veterans who served with Ted have vouched for him as being a loyal husband, loving father, and an exemplary professional of great skill and compassion. Ted has also been defended by then-chairman of the House International Relations Committee Ben Gilman and Ted's congresswoman Sue Kelly, who have written Prince Rainier III of Monaco on Ted's behalf. Monaco has no evidence of any crime by Ted; they have no witnesses and no credible case against him. Even worse, Monaco has planted false evidence and suppressed vast amounts of exculpatory evidence -- even passing a special Monaco law that enables them to hold Ted four years without trial.

The Geneva prosecutor has said that Safra was killed for his cooperation with the FBI regarding the laundering through Safra's Republic National Bank of $4.8 billion in IMF loans to Russia.

Regardless of the reason "why," it is obvious that Ted Maher is a scapegoat for a murder by others. We are working to obtain his release and to correct the grave injustice being done to an American Green beret veteran and medical professional.

To read the "BASIC TIMELINE" that describes the events surrounding the night of December 3, 1999, click here:

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 PennsylvaniaAvenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

E-mail: President George W. Bush - president@whitehouse.gov
V.P. Dick Cheney - vice.president@whitehouse.gov
First Lady Laura Bush - first.lady@whitehouse.gov
Mrs. Lynne Cheney - mrs.cheney@whitehouse.gov

Congresswoman Sue Kelly
1127 Longworth House office Building
Washington, DC 20515-3219
Phone: 1(202)225-5441
E-mail: dearsue@mail.house.gov
Assistant - Phyllis Coleman - phyllis.coleman@mail.house.gov

Amnesty International
322 8th Ave.
New York, NY 10001
Phone: 1(212)807-8400
FAX: 12124639193 or 12126271451
E-mail: admin-us@aiusa.org

House on International Relations Committee
Phone: 1(202)225-4561
Assistant: Aaron Blaine - blaine.aaron@mail.house.gov
Europe - Kelly McDonald - kelly.mcdonald@mail.house.gov

Senator George Allen (he helped obtain the release of Chinese scholar Gao Zhan)
website - "http://allen.senate.gov/"
FAX: 12022245432

His Serene Highness
Prince Rainier III
Palais Princier
Place du Palais
B.P.518
MC 98015 Monaco Ville
Principality of Monaco

Consulate General of Monaco
565 Fifth Avenue -23rd Floor
New York, NY 10017
Phone: 1(212)286-0500
FAX12122861574
E-mail: info@monaco-consulate.com
Hon. Maguy Maccario-Doyle, Consul General

Monaco Guest Book
(You can write in English on the French page and scroll down to read. Please note they have a tendency to delete messages regarding Ted - not "fairytale-correct.")

Riviera banker's fortress became his blazing tomb

Paul Webster Paris
Observer Sunday December 5, 1999

Seen from the outside, the imposing end-of-the-century building in central Monte Carlo where the billionaire banker Edmond J.Safra suffocated to death in an early morning arson attack fits its elegant title, La Belle Epoque. Inside, it is one of the most formidable private fortresses in the world, protected by the most advanced alarms, video cameras and armoured doors that a $70 billion fortune can buy.

Yesterday the acrid smell of the blaze hung in the air above 17 Ostende Avenue, on the slope towards the casino that has been filmed thousands of times by TV cameras covering the Monaco Grand Prix. As detectives from France and Monaco picked their way through the supposedly impregnable duplex flat at the top of the six-storey, end-of-the-century building, the prosecutor-general, Daniel Serfet, admitted that the Principality was bewildered by what has been officially classified as murder. 'We have no idea how the attackers got in and out of the building, which is so closely surveyed by video cameras, without being noticed, or how such a violent and concentrated blaze was started,' he said.

Two questions dominate the death of Lebanese-born Safra, 67, who built a financial empire from his father's money exchange operations. Why did his male nurse open the entrance door of the flat at 5.27am, before he was stabbed, according to his own evidence, while struggling with two masked men? And where was Edmond Safra's permanent body guard, absent from his post at the time of the attack on Friday morning? Both men were yesterday being questioned by Monaco's Sureté Publique, a police force who spend most of their time protecting the colony of super-rich that cling to the supposed security of the Monte Carlo tax haven.

The pair are believed to hold the clue as to how two men penetrated La Belle Epoque, where the lower four storeys are a maze of bank and financial company offices. 'Just opening a door or a puff of cigarette smoke should have set off alarms and alerted the private security team, which is only a minute or two away,' said a French detective called in to help Monaco's largely ceremonial police force. 'This could only have been an inside job or a carefully prepared intrusion, possibly through a rear entrance to avoid passing the nightwatchmen at the reception.

We are also considering whether this could have been an attempt to kidnap Mr Safra, but the intensity of the fire suggests that the intention from the beginning may have been to wipe out him and his family.' Detectives refused to comment on London banking reports that Safra was the subject of a murder contract by the Russian mafia over a failed money-laundering deal. The security measures showed that he probably feared for his life and almost certainly felt safer in his 20-room flat, rather than at his seaside villa at nearby Villefranche-sur-Mer, centre of some of the most lavish receptions ever held on the Riviera.

But the security system meant to protect him was a prime cause of his death. Along with his nurse, Viviane Torrent, he took refuge in a bathroom where there was no outside window to clear smoke from the fire on the floor below. Firemen could not break down armoured doors to his separate wing and axes could not smash bulletproof window glass. An attempt to strip the metal roof failed and the two bodies were not reached until the blaze was brought under con trol at 7.15am. The French detective said:'They must have been alive during most of the failed rescue.'

The prosecutor-general described how an urgent call was received by Monaco police from the nightwatchman, reporting that the male nurse had stumbled down the four storeys from the flat, bleeding from stab wounds in his stomach and thigh. Before being taking to hospital, where he is being guarded by two policemen, he said he had been attacked by two masked men, but had struggled with them to prevent them entering the duplex. However, another internal police source said that the emergency call was made by Safra himself from a telephone inside the flat. He shouted a brief message that men carrying a knife were threatening him.

His wife Lily and granddaughter, in a separate wing, slept through the attack but woke when the fire took hold and remained barricaded in a bedroom until the firemen broke in. Even if the attack proves to be a crime with only local significance, the investigation into the billionaire's death will focus on a series of dubious dealings, including the loan of money by his Republic National Bank of New York to the family of the Russian President, Boris Yeltsin. It could also throw a shadow over the $10 billion sale of part of the Safra financial empire to the HSBC.

Safra, who was considering retiring because of Parkinson's Disease, ruled over 5,000 financial institutions throughout the world and was known as a money broker operating in a murky world that is being constantly investigated over accusations of money-laundering. But he had been given a clean bill of health by US authorities and had often gone to court to protect his good name. His fortune developed from his father's banking, currency exchange and gold-dealing interests in the Middle East which the family left for Brazil in 1957 to escape anti-Semitism. Safra was involved in the business from the age of 16 and took a leading role in establishing a succession of bases in Switzerland, the US and several tax havens, including Guernsey.

The Republic National Bank of New York, founded in 1966, built its fortune on the movement of oil money from the Middle East. It was at the centre of several high-level banking crises, including the loss of billions of dollars lent to Argentina and Brazil in the Eighties. During a dispute with American Express, stories circulated that Safra dealt in Mafia money, but the US company later admitted that there had been a dirty tricks campaign during an attempt to take over his Swiss interests. Compensation of $8 million was paid to a Jewish charity chosen by Safra.

"Even if the attack proves to be a crime with only local significance, the investigation into the billionaire's death will focus on a series of dubious dealings, including the loan of money by his Republic National Bank of New York to the family of the Russian President, Boris Yeltsin. It could also throw a shadow over the $10 billion sale of part of the Safra financial empire to the HSBC."

This was written in 1999...
What has changed?
Especially given the incredibly complicated scenario & murkey characters surrounding this guy & his dealings??
Any one of which w/could easily provide one hell of a motive behind the financing of this man's murder; and, by the very epitome of professional assassins.

How is it then, the whole ball of wax is neatly placed at the feet of a male nurse, one Ted Maher?
What the hell was Maher's motive?
What did Maher stand to gain; other than unemployment, following the death of his employer?

Monaco's hell bent to hold this trial, with Ted Maher the guest of honor.
However, there's a great deal of facts available which can & will cast so much doubt I'm finding it increasingly difficult to believe Monaco has an ice cube's chance in hell pulling-off a conviction of Ted Maher.

In view of all the evidence clearly exonerating Ted Maher?
It seems somewhat obvious Monoaco's entire case rests solely on Maher's signed confession.
That one fact alone has me extremely troubled.
The damned confession is the linchpin Maher's defense (be that as it may...) must concentrate on destroying; to the exclusion of all else.
-IMO-

-BTTT-

Just in from M.I.7, submitted for your approval, B-B-B-Benny and the Jet-Black Widow. . .

I have no idea what this has to do with the Safra case but found interesting. Money laundering, learning it in Monaco. Queen of England and Elton John have accounts with this bank. Under investigation from U.S. Where does Lily go to live? England. Who has her wined and dined at dinners? Prince Charles. Who escorts her to all these functions in England and in N.Y.? Elton John. I have no idea where I am going with this but it seems odd and this write-up was in early 1999 before death of Safra. . . .

Queen's banker Coutts under investigation

Tony Thompson, Crime Correspondent
Sunday July 11, 1999
The Observer

Coutts & CO, bankers to the royal family and top celebrities, is under investigation by US authorities after claims of fraud and money laundering surfaced in civil court cases, The Observer can reveal.

The investigation began after a customer at the New York branch claimed Coutts arranged for him to attend a seminar in Monaco where he was taught techniques of tax evasion which could also be used for laundering money. Papers in the case filed on behalf of the customer at the New York Supreme Court last month state: 'the Federal Reserve Bank and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office have launched separate investigations into these allegations of fraud (among others) against Coutts, possibly including allegations of money laundering.'

The claims, for which there is no independent evidence, are denied by Coutts who say the customer only made the allegations after defaulting on a loan of more than $45m and being sued by the bank. The customer lost the case and intends to appeal. The court made no finding supporting the customer's allegations. Although details of the investigation have yet to be made public, other ongoing civil cases filed against the New York branch of Coutts are believed to be under investigation by the Federal Reserve Bank.

In one, Coutts is accused of employing a consultant who defrauded a customer of $50,000. Another alleges Coutts 'has engaged in a pattern of fraudulent and improper practices' since June 1995 'as part of a misguided and irresponsible programme of engineering transactions to maximise its own pecuniary benefit while utterly disregarding the injury it caused to others.'

In both cases, which have yet to come to court, Coutts says the allegations are false. Founded in 1692, Coutts is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Westminster Bank and operates in eleven locations worldwide. Customers, who must prove they have liquid assets of at least £100,000, include the Queen Mother, Elton John and Jonathan Aitken.

The Duchess of York, famously ran up an overdraft of more than pounds 1m. The New York branch began trading in 1994. From then until the branch shut, for unconnected reasons, in 1998, it recorded a loss in excess of $50m. A Coutts spokesman said the New York office was shut down after a decision to pull out of domestic banking in the US market.

A spokesman denied Coutts was under investigation by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. 'There are a number of staff who are no longer employed by the bank about whom I am not permitted to comment.'

April 5, 2002 -- A fiery prosecution NY Post

PROSECUTORS in Monaco have decided to throw the book at Ted Maher, the New York nurse who has been implicated in the mystery death of billionaire Edmond Safra in Monte Carlo two years ago.

Maher has been in prison ever since awaiting trial. His lawyer Michael Griffith, of Manhattan and the Hamptons, has been trying to arrange a plea bargain, but it now appears the authorities are going for a maximum sentence.

They just announced that Maher is being charged with committing arson with intent to harm. It's better than the murder count they originally considered, but he's still looking at a life term.

Griffith says he is assembling a veritable dream team of lawyers to handle the case when it comes to trial this summer. Griffith says he'll fiercely defend his client, who he depicts as a bit of a bumbler, but nothing more.

"He should he held responsible for a botched rescue attempt of Mr. Safra. He is not an arsonist or a murderer," Griffith insists. The defense team will claim that Safra died in his super-secure apartment because of the incompetence of Monaco's police and fire departments.

When Safra, who was in the process of selling his New York-based bank, died in the fire, all kinds of lurid tales spread - including one that he'd been murdered by the Russian mob. The authorities now seem to believe the version that Maher set the fire so that he could rescue his employer and make himself a hero.

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