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.")

FREE TED MAHER NOW, MONACO

DAY 1,110 WRONGLY IMPRISONED ON EXTORTED FALSE CONFESSION

From twins to toes, a tail of two cities.

Ted was an accomplished neonatal nurse at New York's Columbia-Presbyterian.

He had as patients the twins of Howard and Laura Slatkin, friends of Lily.

The Slatkins left an expensive camera behind at the hospital which Ted had returned to them.

Impressed by his honesty as well as his medical skills they recommended him for Edmond's staff.

After thorough vetting he was accepted.

The Slatkins were too helpful: Howard's brother Harry was Lily's decorator; the decorations prevented manual opening of the steel roller blinds--but Harry says he wasn't the decorator for the penthouse--

Laura's line of scented candles were used to mask Edmond's diarrhea (when Edmond wasn't bench pressing Vivian, he was losing it bigtime).

Laura accompanied Heidi on the plane over to the reunion with the hero--whoops, to the kidnapping and passport theft.

When Ted was next in a hospital, it was as a patient, getting the hundred staples and numerous transfusions,

For the defensive wounds suffered when the two hooded intruders attacked--(police destroyed his clothing)--

And getting the tox screen for drugs and alcohol, all negative, including for the drug in the extorted false confession;

And the documents of the court describe bruising of his occipital (he said he'd been hit on the head);

And "bruising of the toes"--actually, the toes were broken, by the plotters throwing the party.

One might withstand physical pain, sleep-deprivation, but threats on one's children--

And so it goes, this little piggy went to Monaco, this little piggy got framed.

MONACO, STY TO THE STARS

FREE TED MAHER NOW, MONACO

DAY 1,111 WRONGLY IMPRISONED ON EXTORTED FALSE CONFESSION

All in all, he was just another ingot in the vault.

Lily was movin' on up, changed Edmond's will to her benefit;

They argued; she won (sources).

Edmond in winter, blood spattering the undergarments of his female nurse.

Unidentified male DNA under his fingernails.

A cremation of forensic evidence.

And after her second husband Alfredo "Freddy" Monteverde shot himself TWICE IN THE HEART.

She made $210 million in 1976 dollars on Freddy, which today would be not too shabby.

She made three billion on Eddy, give or take a payoff of Sonia or Ireneo.

Or a philanthropic gesture in beloved Edmond's name.

While Ted lost his freedom, and his family, their home, car, savings, husband, father.

On the basis of an extorted false confession.

A crack on the skull, some broken toes, slashing to the tune of 100 staples and numerous transfusions.

The penthouse security tapes went to the police and were "lost" along with the emergency call tapes for that night.

Ted was held for three years without being allowed to speak with anyone of the events, save only the same canned crapola.

Set up with the help of the helpful Slatkins, and a kidnapping and a U.S. Passport theft, and a three-day pass to Dante's Inferno.

Now the widow is the toast of Charles and Camilla and Elton and Ted Kennedy.

And Ted, why, all in all, he's just another ingot in the vault of the rich and famous.

MONACO: PREFERRED BY RUSSIANS PER COTE D'AZUR PRESS

FREE TED MAHER NOW, MONACO

DAY 1,113 WRONGLY IMPRISONED ON EXTORTED FALSE CONFESSION

Jerusalem Post two days after Safra's death.

Arsonists sought in Safra death
By Jerusalem Post Staff And News Agencies

JERUSALEM (December 5) - Edmond J. Safra, the head of an international banking empire, suffocated to death Friday morning after two hooded intruders penetrated a steel door and an elaborate security system in his fortified Monaco penthouse and set fire to the building.

Safra was still alive when firefighters arrived at the burning apartment, some two hours after the intruders entered. But he ignored their pleas to come out of a locked bathroom, fearing it was a ruse, and then suffocated, Monaco's chief prosecutor said yesterday.

Police said they were searching for the knife-wielding intruders who set the fire that killed Safra, 67, and his nurse, Viviane Torrent, a 52-year-old US citizen of Philippine origin, who had barricaded themselves in the bathroom.

Safra's wife, Lily, and her granddaughter hid elsewhere, and escaped unharmed. A male nurse, who called the police, received minor knife wounds in his leg and stomach during a scuffle with the intruders.

One of the world's wealthiest men and a benefactor of numerous Sephardi and other causes, Safra also had homes in Geneva, Paris, and New York. Suffering from Parkinson's disease, he was thought to be planning to retire after expanding into an empire the banking business that had been started by his family under the Ottomans. Safra was born in Beirut of a Jewish-Lebanese family that has banks around the world. His brothers, Joseph and Moise, own shares in banks in Israel, Brazil, and the United States.

The motives for the assault remain unknown. Officials ruled out robbery, but it was not clear whether the intruders intended to kidnap or kill Safra.

Safra was not registered as a "threatened person" in Monaco, but according to The New York Post, he had expanded his private security, composed of former Israeli commandos, after receiving death threats. Israeli officials, in light of Safra's multimillion-dollar dealings in the Arab world, are investigating whether the attack may be linked to Arab extremists, the New York tabloid reported.

The attack came as Republic National Bank of New York, which he founded in 1966, was concluding a $9.9 billion deal to be acquired by HSBC Holdings, the largest bank in Britain. The bank had sustained losses in the recent Latin American banking crisis and the collapse of the Russian economy.

There was speculation that the attack was linked to the fact that Republic last year tipped the FBI to suspicious trading in accounts by a company called Benex. That led to an international probe of Russian money-laundering that is now focused on the Bank of New York.

Safra lived in a luxury duplex penthouse in a six-story building on Avenue d'Ostende, a winding road used during the Grand Prix de Monaco Formula 1 race. The lower floors housed the local offices of Safra's Republic and the French bank Paribas. It is a short walk from the palace of the Grimaldis, Monaco's royal family, and is near the Monte Carlo Casino. Monaco, a tiny principality on the Riviera, is known as a tax haven and playground for the wealthy.

According to the male nurse, the only witness of the events, the fire broke out after the two intruders, armed with knives, broke into the apartment, wounding the nurse in the abdomen when he tried to stop them. Police were questioning Safra's bodyguard, who was supposed to be - but was not - in the apartment at the time of the attack. The bodyguard was not named.

Before he died, Safra spoke to his wife twice from the bathroom using his mobile phone, and in one conversation also told her to lock herself away, officials said.

The fire started in a wastebasket in the flat, and smoke billowed into the bathroom through the vent of a fire-detection unit.

"The firefighters knocked on the [bathroom] door, but Safra thought it was the assailants and refused to come out," Monaco's chief prosecutor Daniel Serdet said.

He did not explain why the firefighters did not then break the door down and rescue Safra and Torrent.

Serdet said that, around 5 a.m., the male nurse alerted police of the presence of two armed men in the apartment.

When police arrived, a fire was raging inside the building and had spread to the domed roof. Rescuers were unable to reach the victims, who were still alive, until 7:15 a.m. [7:45 a.m. in fire report], the prosecutor said. Firefighters went through the nearby Hotel Ermitage's main lobby and gained access to the burning roof from the hotel's top-floor terrace, but needed some three hours to extinguish the blaze, which left the building's roof a twisted mass of broken beams and melted copper sheeting.

Serdet said a decision would probably be taken tomorrow on what the official basis for the investigation would be - break-in, arson, or murder.

"The investigation will probably be opened on criminal grounds, most likely on Monday, but for the moment the inquiry rests on a single witness, the [male] nurse," he said.

"One element intriguing investigators is that the usual bodyguard was absent at the time of the events."

Asked if the nurse, recovering in hospital, was a suspect, Serdet said: "He is a privileged witness."

~~~

Benex laundered billions and Lily's attorney Stanley Arkin defended Natasha Kagalovsky of BONY in the ensuing case. Natasha's husband Konstantin Kagalovsky was Russia's IMF representative.

The chief prosecutor of Geneva was cited in the Times' Russia Journal [UK] as saying Safra was killed for cooperating with the FBI regarding the laundering of $4.8 billion in IMF loans to Russia through Republic Bank.

Monaco's chief inspector of police was put through the FBI National Academy, January-March, 1999 [Safra sang to FBI August, 1998; sang his final aria December, 1999].

With the opening of the *FBI Academy in the summer of 1972, National Academy classes were provided on a quarterly basis consisting of 11 weeks of training for upper and mid-level law enforcement officers. The curriculum focuses on leadership and management training and consists of courses relating to Management Science, Behavioral Science, Law, Education, Forensic Science and Health/Fitness.

Yet Monaco chief inspector Olivier Jude supervised the three-day interrogation of Ted Maher, from which the American emerged with facial bruising, bruised occipital, bruising of the toes, having been held in four-point restraint, catheterized, deprived of sleep for three days--during which time his wife was kidnapped, her U.S. Passport stolen and used to threaten Ted with her strip-searching, torture and indefinite detention. Under Jude, Maher was shown secretly-taken photos of his children and played secretly-recorded tapes of their voices as implied threat upon their safety.

Thus was the original false confession in French (which Maher does not read, write or speak) extorted.

Through three years of isolation, held incommunicado regarding the events of December 3, 1999, screamed at by judge d'instruction Patricia Richet, "I know you will be found guilty!" (as she tore up letters from his children), Maher was warned he must adhere to the original false confession or be imprisoned for life.

Even at that, the Monaco police still awakened Maher every 20 to 40 minutes during the trial to produce a dark-eyed wreck of a human being--ten days of such treatment!

Sleep-deprivation is forbidden by the Supreme Court of Israel by IDF on its prisoners.

And the above article references the firemen entering through the Hotel Hermitage--thus did the intruders avoid the street cams.

The article mentions "Arab terrorists"--Monaco police questioned--but released--two Arab men in the underground parking garage.

The article notes the absence of Safra's bodyguards--Lily sent them all (11) to La Leopolda per Israeli journalist Boaz Bismuth.

Monaco police conveniently "lost" their emergency call tapes for the 3d (but had tapes for the 2d and 4th).

Monaco police destroyed Ted's original clothing and substituted brand-new, uncut, unbloodied, inappropriate sportswear.

And how excellent that Jude learned "forensic science" at the FBI National Academy. So that he could ignore it in this case.

Vivian died of strangulation per the world-class expert forensic/DNA authority Dr. Michael J. Baden.

Vivian was spattered on bra, panties and nursing cap/barrette with Edmond's blood.

And from the account of the trial:

. The traces of male ADN not identified, found under the nails of Edmond Safra, will remain forever a mystery.

Why? Because anything not framing the American scapegoat is ignored.

The "trial" was a Stalinesque masquerade.

The pathetic prisoner was forced to parrot the extorted false confession.

Anne Williamson of Contagion said the laundering benefited the Clintons, Rubin, Summers, the Harvard econ faculty and a half dozen Russian reformers.

After Safra sang to the FBI with its Clinton-appointed director, the chief inspector of Monaco is brought to Quantico for eleven weeks; then supervises the scapegoating of an innocent American veteran in Safra's death.

It's Ambrosia:

Safra sang to the FBI who trained chief inspector Jude
To extort the false confession by means scientifically crude.
Nice, nice, very nice
So many people in the same device.

MONACO: NOT SO MUCH THAT SEVENTIES SHOW AS 1984

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