Free Republic

by Richard Lawrence Poe Monday, November 5, 2007 Permanent LinkMore Columns FOUR YEARS ago, leftist billionaire George Soros vowed to bring down President Bush, but failed. Now he is making another power play, this time in Europe. Soros knows Europe better than he does America. He may get what he wants this time; a reversal of his 2002 criminal conviction for insider trading. On January 29, 2002, a French court convicted Soros of illegal trades in connection with a takeover attempt on a French bank. Soros appealed his conviction twice without success. Now he awaits his fourth trial at...

Her name is Lily Safra... The daughter of a British railway engineer, Lily's ascent from humble origins to fabulous wealth had been little short of dazzling. By the late Nineties, her husband was presiding over a £3 billion fortune - all of which passed to Lily alone when, on the morning of December 3, 1999, Edmond died in a fire, apparently succumbing to fumes in the property's highly reinforced panic room.... Four days later, in a tearful confession, one of Edmond's full-time nursing staff, 41-year-old Ted Maher, admitted to lighting the fire in a doomed bid to stage a heroic...

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 ...

American gets 10 years in Monaco deaths Nurse, ex-Green Beret set fire that killed banker, second nurse 12/03/2002 Associated Press MONTE CARLO, Monaco - An American nurse was convicted Monday in the 1999 arson deaths of billionaire banker Edmond Safra and another nurse, Vivian Torrente. Ted Maher was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The prosecution in this wealthy Mediterranean enclave had requested 12 years in prison for Mr. Maher. The charges carried a maximum penalty of life in prison. "He directly caused the deaths of Mrs. Torrente and Mr. Safra," head prosecutor Daniel Serdet said. "He trapped the...

Philip Delves Broughton, in Monaco for the trial of Ted Maher, finds that the principality is a rotten little retirement home for fat catsIt was bucketing down in Monte Carlo and the casino was empty. Croupiers sat forlornly at the tables in the gilded Salle d’Europe and in the large private rooms at the back, overlooking a sheer drop to the Mediterranean. Several of them were horsing around with the sticks they use to gather in chips. The restaurant tablecloths were starched and laid with silver, but the waiters had no one to serve. A few old birds in dodgy...

AN AMERICAN nurse will go on trial in Monaco today charged with the arson attack that triggered a bizarre chain of events culminating in the death of one of the world’s wealthiest bankers, Edmond Safra, in 1999. The jury at the biggest criminal case held in the Principality will be told that Safra was killed by a combination of his own fear, official bungling and the tortured projects hatched by his nurse, Ted Maher. Mr Maher, 44, the sole defendant, is accused of arson with attempt to harm and faces a 20-year prison sentence if found guilty. Among the civil...

Michael Griffith   The criminal defense lawyer discusses his client Ted Maher and comments on a Florida case in which a teenage gunplay turned fatalOctober 3, 2002   Court TV Host: We're going to be talking to criminal defense attorney Michael Griffith about the current Court TV taped trial, Fla. v. Acosta: After-school Fight Turns Deadly and we'll be asking Griffith about his high profile case, his defense of Ted Maher, the American nurse currently facing charges in Monaco for the death of billionaire Edmond Safra Court TV Host: Michael Griffith is here! Welcome! Michael Griffith: Hi folks I'm...

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,...

New Yorker pleads with Monaco court not to prosecute him in arson deaths   Ted Maher, left, could spend the rest of his life in a Monaco prison if convicted of killing billionaire Edmond Safra and a nurse in a fire he set in 1999. By John Springer Court TV The 1999 deaths of billionaire banker Edmond Safra and a private-duty nurse in a Monaco were a "terrible accident" and should not be prosecuted as intentional homicides, a New York man charged with setting the fire that killed them told an appeals court early this month.   Ted Maher, a...