Posted on 03/20/2002 7:52:49 AM PST by Nita Nupress
Ted Maher -- former Special Forces; Neonatal Intensive Care nurse
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.
Ted Maher -- a giver of life, not a taker -- needs our help.
============================================
To read the "BASIC TIMELINE" that describes the events surrounding the night of December 3, 1999, click here:
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 498 Days and Counting... (Thread I)
To read the "BASIC TIMELINE
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 537 Days and Counting... (Thread II)
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 544 Days and Counting... (Thread III)
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 544 Days and Counting... (Thread IV)
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 615 Days and Counting... (second Thread IV)
American Green Beret Veteran TED MAHER Held Hostage by Monaco for 629 Days and Counting... (Thread VI)
American Green Beret Vet TED MAHER Held HOSTAGE by Monaco for 629 Days (Thread 6) second thread 6"
American Green Beret Vet TED MAHER Held HOSTAGE by Monaco for 629 Days (Thread 10)
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(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.")
Exactly. I thought we never left our own soldiers behind.
Ted wasn't at "war," but it's obvious to even the casual reader that he's being framed and thus being held hostage.
He's now in a battle for his life, and our government appears to be doing absolutely nothing.
Amen,............More Grace and Mercy,..............In Jesus' Precious Name, Amen!!!
He's now in a battle for his life, and our government appears to be doing absolutely nothing.
President Bush: Please Bring Ted Maher Home From Banana-Republic Monaco!
President Bush FAX: 12024562461 (no spaces)
Amen,............More Grace and Mercy,..............In Jesus' Precious Name, Amen!!!
Amen,............More Grace and Mercy,..............In Jesus' Precious Name, Amen!!!
On Sunday, April 14, 2002 at 11:00AM, WQXR 96.3FM Radio in New York will present an exceptional live broadcast from Monaco, also available worldwide on www.wqxr.com. The show will feature the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra performing Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. Make sure to tune in for opportunities to win free trips to Monaco on Air France!
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MONACO: FREEING TED - THAT WOULD BE MUSIC TO OUR EARS!
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MONACO: FREE TED NOW!!!
Well, I suppose there is a chance that Dubya has already called up Prince Ranier III to chit-chat about Ted and was told to go to hell. Right? And Dubya's just too embarrassed to admit it so he's not saying anything. Right?
Hey, it could happen! Just because Monaco is a pissant principality doesn't mean that the Sovereign Prince of Monaco is some kind of wimp!
Of course, a Prince who is a real man wouldn't be letting this happen in the first place...
This is G o o g l e's cache of http://www.usajewish.com/scripts/usaj/paper/Article.asp?ArticleID=1099.
Thursday, March 8, 2001, 10:00 AM EST
WAS SAFRA FAMILY MAKING SURE HE WAS DEAD?
We mustn't lose sight of the background to the Safra execution - the fact that old man Edmond was going to sell the family fortune very short that week. We've always been suspicious that the family was behind the decision to take him out. Now the facts are beginning to bear us out.
Cops Ripped in Monaco Safra Fire Tragedy
The fiery deaths of billionaire banker Edmond Safra and a nurse in Monaco in December 1999 likely resulted from the actions — or inaction — of Monaco police, according to a report by French authorities, the Daily News has learned. The report, ordered by Patricia Richet, chief examining magistrate of the Monaco district court, concluded that police prevented firefighters from attacking the blaze for two crucial hours.The previously unpublished May report, portions of which were obtained by The News, describes a tragic Keystone Kops scenario in which police and the fire brigade were called at 5:10 a.m. Dec. 3, 1999. Firefighters were prevented from extinguishing the fire until 7:15 a.m. It wasn't until 7:45 a.m. that they got into the locked bathroom where Safra and nurse Vivian Torrente were found dead of smoke inhalation.
"The police impeded the fire department," said lawyer Michael Griffith. He represents the family of Ted Maher, 42, a former Dutchess County resident and second Safra private nurse who was jailed in Monaco on charges related to the fire. French investigators found the emergency operation was "abnormally long" and that "the police and fire brigade had delayed" taking action because "the police ... favored the implausible scenario of an attack."
(NY Daily News)QUESTIONS WE ASKED BACK THEN:
Why would the Safra family avoid taking the body to Jerusalem? Is it because they have better control over its investigation in Switzerland than they would in Israel?Swiss burial for banker Safra
"For reasons of logistics it was difficult to do it on time in Jerusalem, so it is in Geneva tomorrow at 11 am (1000 GMT)," Alexander Bruggman, spokesman for the Republic Bank of New York in Geneva, said.Photographers saw a long black limousine accompanied by a cortege of 10 cars and about 20 members of Safra's family and associates arrive at the airport in Nice. The coffin was placed in a tightly guarded freight building before being loaded onto a private jet.
Although autopsies confirmed that Safra, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, and his nurse Viviane Torrente, 52, died of suffocation as the fire swept through his Riviera flat, officials are disturbed by conflicting versions of the events.
(Reuters, December 6, 1999)HSBC Takes Over Republic
HSBC Holdings snapped up Edmond Safra's Republic New York bank and an affiliate for $10.3 billion in cash, catapulting it from a small-time player in the city to having the No. 3 branch network in Gotham.London-based HSBC agreed to pay $72 for each Republic and Safra Republic Holdings share, ending months of speculation by options traders who watched Republic's share price zig-zag in a pattern that indicated takeover interest.
The shares were purchased after the price dropped 9 percent in a few days because the bank's vice chairman, Robert Cohen, resigned without explanation. Many speculated that Cohen's abrupt departure was a sure sign there was a development in the pipeline that Cohen opposed. In March, Safra launched a restructuring plan intended to get the bank out of unprofitable trading activities and more into private banking.
(New York Post, December 3, 1999)
And there are three not four children--if only the forth were the Baby Jesus then Ted would be borne out of that Monaco prison by a heavenly host of angels--we'll just have to write our president.
Updated April 8, 2002, at 5:30 p.m. ET
New Yorker to argue he never intended to kill billionaire banker, fellow nurse
By John Springer
Court TV Lawyers for an American male nurse who is charged with setting a fire that killed his billionaire boss and another nurse will argue in court next month that the accused man should, at the most, face a charge of involuntary manslaughter. Ted Maher, a 43-year-old former special forces soldier from upstate New York, faces life in prison if convicted of "arson causing deaths." Although Maher admits setting the Dec. 3, 1999, blaze at banker Edmond Safra's Monaco penthouse apartment, his defense is that he never intended to kill Safra and a female nurse caring for the wealthy Lebanon-born philanthropist.
An investigative magistrate last week adopted a prosecutor's recommendation that Maher stand trial on the more serious arson charge. Prosecutors could not be reached for comment. Maher's lawyer in Monte Carlo, Donald Manasse, told Courttv.com on Monday that the defense would seek to have the charges thrown out. The defense will argue that Maher should face no more than an involuntary manslaughter charge, which carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison. Maher has already served 2 1/2 years awaiting his day in court. In December 1999 Maher was nearing the end of a $600-a-day contract as one of the nurses on the personal staff of Safra, who was 67 years old and suffered from Parkinson's Disease.
In the early hours of Dec. 3, 1999, Maher stumbled bleeding from knife wounds into the lobby of Safra's fortified penthouse above one of his bank buildings. Before he was rushed to a hospital, Maher reported that there was a fire in the penthouse and that two masked intruders attacked him. Believing that intruders were still in the building, police kept firefighters at bay for more than an hour before permitting rescuers to search for Safra and nurse Vivian Torrente.
Safra and Torrente succumbed to toxic fumes. Their bodies were located in a dressing room about 90 minutes after Maher was rushed to the hospital. Safra's widow, Lily Safra, escaped the fire. Although he was initially hailed a hero, Maher eventually told police that he made up the story about the intruders and admitted that he set a small fire in his room in order to stage a rescue of Safra.
Prosecutors claim* that Maher was having problems with his nursing supervisor and wanted to get in Safra's good graces. Maher's lawyers will not discuss the confession but insist that Maher did not intend to harm anyone. Michael Griffith, a New York lawyer assisting Maher's defense team, said that if Maher stands trial for the deaths the defense intends to highlight blunders by police and firefighters which could have saved the victims' lives. "There is an intent element to the arson charge. That is what the trial is going to be about," Griffith said. Maher has been told that a trial on the arson charge could begin in September, Manasse said, but his lawyers remain hopeful that appellate judges will agree that there is no evidence that Maher intended to kill Safra and Torrente.
"He's doing alright. He didn't have his hopes up for a different [charge] at this point," Manasse said. "He, like us, finds it very hard to believe that anyone could think that he had any kind of intent to harm." Maher, who was on leave from his job as a neonatal nurse when he was arrested, lives in Stormville, N.Y., with his wife and four children. The appellate court hearing on the charges, tentatively scheduled for May 2, is closed to the public.
*Prosecutors claim--Prosecutor Daniel Serdet told Time.com's Thomas Sancton on December 20, 1999 that Ted was "using drugs"--Princess Grace Hospital tested Ted for drugs and alcohol and produced results as follows: NEGATIF NEGATIF NEGATIF--which were clearly shown on DatelineNBC's "Who Killed the Billionaire?" November 21, 2000. Further, the PLANTED drugs were ordered by ----- who the prosecutors say was the object of Ted's something envy bitterness bullsh*t--Prosecutors made it all up, the police typed it in French and beat it out of Ted in three days of restraint, sleep deprivation and threats on his wife and children.
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