Murder in Monaco (2025) Movie Script

- [phone line ringing]
- [police sirens wailing in distance]
[intriguing music playing]
[man 1 over phone] There are
a hundred police officers looking for me.
I am not going
to fucking jail
for one minute
for something I didn't do.
[man 2] I received this phone call
while making this documentary
about the strange death
of a billionaire in Monaco.
There is a murder mystery
to report tonight.
The victim, an elusive billionaire banker
[anchor 1] is unfolding at the favorite
playground of the rich and famous, Monaco.
It raises a whole lot of questions,
like who wanted him dead and why?
[anchor 2] Why would he be targeted
by assassins?
[cell phone ringing]
[man 1] I can't trust anybody, Hodge.
I I just can't.
That fucking murder in Monaco,
there's no proof in any of it.
It's all bullshit.
Wow. [Exhales]
[reporter] The mystery deepens
surrounding the death
of billionaire banker Edmond Safra.
He suffocated in a fire
in his Monaco apartment.
[Hodge] The 1999 death of Edmond Safra
[anchor] Two masked gunmen
forced their way
into Safra's penthouse apartment,
stabbed a nurse, then set the fire.
[Hodge] It's a mystery.
What really happened?
- Edmond Safra.
- Edmond Safra.
Edmond Safra.
was a billionaire, and he had enemies.
[Hodge] Who killed Edmond Safra?
The Russian Mafia.
[reporter] Safra ratted out
the Russian Mafia to the FBI.
[radio chatter]
[Hodge] Who do you think was responsible
for Edmond's death?
The nurse who killed Edmond
was responsible for his death.
[reporter] The only evidence of intruders
comes from the male nurse.
Am I a liar? No, absolutely not.
The evidence clearly shows that I'm not.
I'm feeling closer
to my husband than ever.
[woman] Some people believed
this was murder by Lily Safra.
She was a praying mantis.
[man 3] Billionaire, black-widow wife,
murder in Monaco.
There could be no better murder mystery
than Edmond Safra's.
[intriguing music crescendoes]
[curious music playing]
[woman] I was in a lawsuit
for five years over this.
Like, we had ten attorneys.
I've been sued a lot.
Oh, yeah, like, I keep our
our outside law firm, like, employed.
[laughs]
[Hodge] Can you introduce yourself?
My name's Isabel Vincent.
I'm an investigative reporter
at the New York Post.
I spent years trying to figure out
the truth about the death of Edmond Safra.
It was just such a mystery
that was never fully explained.
[suspenseful music playing]
On the night of the crime,
it's reported that masked intruders
break into Edmond Safra's Monaco penthouse
and try to kidnap or kill him.
Edmond and his nurse lock themselves
inside an armored panic room.
The intruders are unable
to penetrate the penthouse
and set the penthouse ablaze.
[sirens wailing]
Firefighters and police
burst into the panic room.
They find Edmond Safra
seated in a red armchair
with his nurse, Vivian Torrente,
lying at his feet.
How do they die like that?
Who comes in? What went on?
If you're looking at money as a motive,
it makes sense that Edmond Safra
would be a target.
[reporter] Lebanese born
from a wealthy Jewish banking family,
Forbes magazine calls him
one of the world's 200 richest men.
[Vincent] They had
these crazy-expensive properties
all over the world.
[man] Mystery has always surrounded Safra
and his business dealings.
His specialty, private banking
for extremely wealthy clients.
[Vincent] He had
many high-powered clients.
Hollywood actors, politicians,
even the royal family of Monaco.
Mr. Safra is my banker.
[Vincent] He was very good friends
with celebrities.
We're in the money
The skies are sunny
Edmond had fabled, fabulous wealth.
We're in the money
Come on, my honey
Let's spend it, lend it
Send it rolling
Along!
[music ends]
[Hodge] Lady C, thank you so much
for doing this. I really appreciate you.
- Do you want anything to drink?
- No, thank you.
I want this over with
as quickly as possible.
- Start.
- [Hodge] All right.
[clears throat]
Okay. [Coughs]
[Hodge] Could you introduce yourself
to us?
No.
[Hodge] Who is Lady Colin Campbell?
So Lady Colin Campbell is an aristocrat.
And she is, like,
this larger-than-life character
and a very good writer.
Did you go to the castle?
- [Hodge] We went to the castle.
- Oh boy.
Actually, I'm not doing this.
This is at an end.
Un-fucking-believable.
[Hodge] Would you say
she's a reliable narrator?
You have an hour.
And not a second over.
[Vincent] I know that she seems
kind of crazy, but she's very smart.
And she was getting the story
as it was happening.
[Lady C] I started writing this book
called Empress Bianca,
which was based on the life of Lily Safra.
And once word got out
that I was writing the book,
Joseph Safra, one of Edmond's brothers,
got in touch with me.
And I got lots of information
that I would never have had
access to otherwise.
The brothers did not regard Lily
as a suitable wife for their brother.
The Safras had always been
a very respected family,
whereas Lily Safra
was a woman of no background.
Her ambition was to become
the world's leading socialite,
and set about achieving it.
But because Edmond became very infirm,
because he had Parkinson's,
she had to look after Edmond,
and it hampered her movements.
[somber music playing]
[Vincent] Edmond was on
a ton of medication.
Some of that medication made him paranoid
about people coming after him.
So he was surrounded
by bodyguards and nurses.
[Hodge] All right, let's do it. Let's go.
We got Ted. We're ready.
[Vincent] Ted Maher goes for an interview.
He was a Green Beret,
and he was also a nurse.
So he was a good candidate.
[Hodge] Let's rewind.
Let's go all the way back in time.
How did you get the job?
Oh my gosh.
I was a neonatal nurse in New York City.
My wife, Heidi,
worked in the hospital with me.
[Heidi] He was just so loving, so caring.
[Ted] We had three children,
one from a previous marriage.
[Heidi] He loved kids.
Even mowing the lawn,
he'd always have a kid around him.
[baby chuckles]
[Ted] We found out that the hospital
was going to be going on strike
and Heidi and I were gonna
potentially be losing our jobs.
On a nurse's salary,
it was already very, very hard
just to try to pay for everything,
the mortgage and everything, so
At the time, I was taking care
of a set of twins,
and the parents were in the business
of catering to the rich.
[camera shutter clicks]
[Ted] And they said,
"We know somebody that needs a nurse."
And it was one of the richest men
in the world, Edmond Safra,
who had Parkinson's disease.
And it would entail going to Monaco.
So they're presenting this to me,
and I'm like,
"Wow, that's sounds really nice."
After I speak to my wife
and telling my children
Bye. [Kiss]
- [child] Bye. I love you.
- I love you all.
I flew to Nice in France.
[dramatic music playing]
[Ted] I was picked up by a limo.
I'm like, "Oh my God.
Wow, that's pretty cool," you know?
The estate was the most expensive villa
in the world. It was amazing.
I go in, there's security everywhere,
walking around with an Uzi of some sort.
[cocking]
[birds chirping]
[Ted] I was escorted up to the villa
and told I'm meeting their psychiatrist.
After a short period of time,
the psychiatrist realized
I wasn't Charles Manson,
and everything was good. [Chuckles]
And, uh, so I was to see
Mr. Safra's wife, Lily Safra.
She was obviously in a class
that was way out of my horizons,
and she was very, you know,
had all the maids and butlers
and security personnel
doing everything at her whim's call.
She said, "Oh, we've heard
a lot of things about you."
"Very good things."
I was ex-Special Forces,
so not only would her husband
be getting a nurse,
but he'd be getting
a bodyguard-slash-nurse.
[parachute flapping]
So that was pretty much it.
I mean, Lily was talking to me,
asked me a few basic questions,
and she said, "I'll talk to my husband,
and and you'll come here tomorrow."
So I started right then.
[Hodge] What's Monaco like?
[inhales] Monaco.
- [grandiose music playing]
- [seagulls cawing]
[exhales] Oh God.
[blades whirring]
[Ted] All the stuff you see
on the James Bond films,
the glamour, the richness, the casino.
[dealer] Mr. Bond.
The richest people in the world are there.
[man 1] Monaco is a tax-free paradise
with more millionaires
in a single square mile
than anywhere else on the planet.
[man 2] Monaco is a sunny place
for shady people.
Here, very rich people avoid paying taxes
in their native countries.
[horn honking]
[Vincent] Monaco is
less than a square mile,
and it's just this Disneyland of wealth,
which is also very tightly controlled.
[man] Monaco is one
of the securest countries,
with surveillance cameras here in
almost every corner of the principality.
[Ted] There's one policeman
for every 60 people.
It's the safest place in the world.
[shutters clicking]
[Lady C] Monaco is groaning with money,
with all the movie stars,
royalty, and billionaires.
["Con I baci miei"
by Brice Davoli playing]
[Ted] Working for Mr. Safra
was a dream job.
I mean, I'm being paid $600 a day,
and I'm getting a $10,000-a-month stipend
to pay for the hotel, maid service, meals,
open bar when you weren't working.
They covered everything.
Like, wow, life is good.
You know? [Chuckling]
The only thing I was lacking
was my family.
So I approached management
after being there several months
and said, "It would be really good
if, uh, I could get my family over here."
And they said, "Sure."
I was checking out
a school for the children.
I was checking out an apartment
that would be close by.
So everything was set.
I was very lucky.
It was absolutely amazing.
[music ends]
[siren wailing]
And then the shit hit the fan.
[suspenseful music playing]
[siren wailing]
[siren wailing]
[blades whirring]
[indistinct]
[shutter clicking]
[reporter 1] One of the world's
richest bankers died today
in a violent and mysterious attack
on his home in Monaco.
[reporter 2] Safra and his nurse
both suffocated to death.
His wife managed to escape.
[reporter 3] A second nurse was stabbed
but is recovering.
[in Italian] The nurse who was attacked
and stabbed by the two killers
is hospitalized here
at the Princess Grace Hospital.
[suspenseful music playing]
- [indistinct chatter]
- [camera shutters clicking]
[indistinct]
[in French] Ladies and gentlemen.
There were armed intruders
inside the apartment.
Mr. Safra took refuge in the bathroom,
accompanied by his nurse,
Mrs. Vivian Torrente.
While the firemen were present,
he refused to come out.
And it was that smoke
that caused their death by asphyxiation.
[reporter 1]
Do we know how the fire started?
We could not determine
what caused the ignition.
[reporter 2]
Have the videotapes been seized?
Do they indicate
the passage of individuals?
The videotapes have been seized
and are being studied.
[reporter 3]
The injured man's name, please?
[General Prosecutor] Ted Maher.
The nurse was stabbed once
in the left thigh
and once in the abdomen.
[reporter 4] Did Mr. Safra
receive threats?
We are trying to gather
material elements and testimonies
to determine whether
the security procedures in place
were properly followed.
- [indistinct chatter]
- [camera shutters clicking]
[man in English] How could one of
the richest men in the world be killed
in one of the securest countries
in the world?
What is most important to investigators
is how anyone could've managed to get past
all of the security that protected Safra.
[dramatic music playing]
[music fades]
[Mr. X] I was the head of security
for Edmond.
[birds chirping]
[Mr. X] I tried to cover everything,
because he's famous, he's rich,
he might be subject to attack.
Edmond was afraid
of terrorist organizations
- [camera shutter clicks]
- Mafia
[camera shutter clicks]
so the security around him
[cocking]
was massive security.
It was a team of up to 25 security guards.
They were from specialist army units
like the Mossad.
[dog barking]
[Mr. X] Every couple of months,
I had new candidates coming in.
Stop!
[Mr. X] We did exercises
like attacking with arms.
- [yelling]
- [indistinct shouting]
[Mr. X] Edmond was very satisfied
with all the security.
With the protection he had,
it shouldn't have happened.
[reporter 1] Edmond Safra died
the way he feared he might.
The fire that killed him
was set by two hooded intruders
who somehow got past the security
at Safra's penthouse.
[reporter 2] Police believe
it was a professional job,
very likely organized crime.
Whoever it was has a long reach
and is capable of organizing
a daring, brutal, and vindictive maneuver.
He was a billionaire in his own right,
the head of an international
financial empire, and he had enemies.
[in Italian] Investigators are following
a link to the Russian Mafia.
[Vincent in English] Very quickly,
the news starts saying that
the Russian mob
sent people to kill Edmond.
[reporter] In Israel, they are speculating
the Russian mob
had put a contract out on Safra's life.
[Kissinger] He did have
significant investments in Russia,
and there may have been
some shadowy connection.
[suspenseful sting]
- Who am I looking at?
- So, you're look...
- I'm gonna be right in here.
- Okay.
[Hodge] Who is Bill Browder?
Bill Browder
was Safra's Russian connection.
[Browder] Edmond was my business partner.
I was a specialist
in the Russian stock market.
We set up this joint venture,
the Hermitage Fund.
He put up the first $25 million.
It was an unbelievable success.
We went from $25 million
to about a billion dollars
18 months later.
But in 1998, the Russian government
devalued their currency by 75%.
We lost $900 million
of our clients' money.
[reporter] The ruble's value tumbled
on the Moscow trading screens.
- Russian banks have collapsed.
- [inaudible]
The situation has become lethal.
Most Russian banks are bankrupt.
[reporter] Edmond Safra
was deeply involved in Russia.
His banks had lost billions there
in the economic collapse,
and in recent months,
he had moved to dramatically reduce
the amount of business
his banks did there.
It was a move that almost certainly left
powerful people unhappy.
Edmond was very nervous of the Russians
with whom he had been in business.
[reporter 1] Yet another Mafia
assassination in the Russian capital.
[reporter 2] More than 200 businessmen
have been killed
by Russian mobsters in the past year.
It is very dangerous in Russia.
It's dangerous to invest here.
It's dangerous to do business.
[dramatic music playing]
[Browder] One of the biggest problems
we had investing in Russia
was that the companies
were majority owned by Russian oligarchs.
Oligarchs are extremely
wealthy businessmen
who are backed by the Russian government.
And Edmond and I had
a particularly bad experience.
We invested in an oil company
called Sidanco.
Sidanco was owned 96%
by a Russian oligarch
named Vladimir Potanin.
Are you an oligarch?
I I would say I don't know
whether I'm oligarch or not,
but I never felt like oligarch.
You're the richest man in Russia, so
[Browder] Vladimir Potanin, this oligarch,
was gonna basically steal
75% of the money that we had made.
I went to Edmond Safra, and I said,
"We're gonna have to go to war
with this guy."
He said, you know,
"You can't go to war with this guy."
"He's an oligarch."
You know, "They'll kill you."
[suspenseful music playing]
Next day, there were 15 bodyguards
who Edmond had sent to protect me.
They would scope out the rooftops
for snipers, they'd look for car bombs.
[police sirens wailing]
I was terrified. Every step I took,
I thought there'd be, you know,
a sniper, or a bomb, a poison.
I didn't know what.
I can't imagine it was very nice for Safra
to live like that his whole life.
[Vincent] Edmond was paranoid,
because certainly,
he had done business with Russia,
with some very unsavory characters.
Also around the time that Safra
is investing in Bill Browder's hedge fund,
that's when he comes across
Russian mob money
flowing into American banks.
And Safra reports this to the FBI.
Safra's banks apparently played a role
in alerting US authorities
that a rival New York bank
was laundering Russian mob money.
And his own banks may have been used
by the Russian mob as well.
[Browder] Republic National Bank
were the big transporters
of physical cash to Russia.
They would have these things
called the money plane,
which was organized
by Republic National Bank,
which was obviously Edmond's bank.
They would put on
these big crates of cash,
and they would move the cash
from New York to Russia
on this plane
with all these security guards,
and then the banks would get the cash.
And so I would imagine
part of the investigation into Republic
was this cash business.
[Vincent] His bank was flying
a billion dollars to Russia every day.
[reporter] Two months ago,
his bank testified in Congress
about alleged Russian money laundering.
Republic informed the FBI
and other appropriate authorities.
[pensive music playing]
[Vincent] Edmond's bank
received a letter from the FBI
thanking them for their cooperation.
This letter is dated August.
Then in December,
four months later, he's killed.
He's given this evidence to the FBI,
and he's a marked man.
And shortly after, he moves to Monaco.
It's one of the safest countries
in the world.
Safra moves into his penthouse
called the Belle poque,
which was above his bank.
The penthouse is not your average
two-bedroom apartment.
This place was over 10,000 square feet.
It's a labyrinth of rooms.
[Mr. X] There were panic buttons
and bulletproof shutters.
[metallic clang]
[Mr. X] A panic room
with a special, strong door.
There was CCTV in the entrance,
in the corridors, and outside.
[Vincent] The Belle poque was a fortress.
It was completely impenetrable.
[dramatic music playing]
[Browder] How is it possible
that the assassins
will be able to get into one of the most
secure private residence in the world?
[Vincent] One of the possible theories
was that the penthouse
was easily accessible
from the hotel next door.
[man in Italian] A house
transformed into a bunker
but which the killers reached
from the rooftops,
likely crossing over from the Hermitage,
one of the most exclusive hotels
in the principality.
[reporter in English] The crime
has shocked Monegasques.
It's supposed to be very, very secure.
[reporter] If Monte Carlo
loses its tranquility,
the rich will leave here tomorrow.
For a country that depends on
its reputation for security
to make the world's rich feel comfortable,
solving this crime, one official said,
is of utmost importance.
[cantorial singing]
[reporter 1] Family and friends
of Edmond Safra
gathered at the synagogue
in Geneva, Switzerland,
for the billionaire banker's
funeral service.
For us, it is a tremendous loss.
[journalist] Thank you.
[reporter 1] His death on Friday
shocked the banking world
and sent shudders through Monaco,
the quiet principality where he lived.
[reporter 2 in French] The funeral
was to be held in Jerusalem,
but for security reasons,
it was moved to Geneva.
It took place under the close supervision
of the Geneva police.
[camera shutters clicking]
[Vincent in English] At that point,
many believed it was the Russian mob.
But then on the day of Edmond's funeral,
there was this crazy twist.
[announcer] From ABC News
world headquarters in New York
Almost as soon
as the billionaire banker Edmond Safra
was murdered in Monaco on Friday,
investigators began to speculate
that it was the work
of organized crime in Russia.
In fact, it was an American nurse
who killed him.
In Monte Carlo tonight,
a strange twist in the murder mystery
A bizarre twist developed today
in the mysterious death
[reporter] As friends of Edmond Safra
gathered in Geneva for his funeral,
police in Monaco arrested his nurse,
charging him with arson
in the fire that killed
the internationally renowned banker.
[Vincent] The sudden twist
seemed to come out of left field.
[reporter 1] Authorities say
Ted Maher concocted a plan
he thought would make him a hero
in the billionaire's eyes.
The nurse set the fire in a waste basket
and planned to rescue Safra.
[reporter 2] Ted Maher set the fire.
He alerted a security guard,
believing that firemen would put out
the flames before they spread.
And he stabbed himself
to make it look as though
he had fought off intruders.
[Vincent] He's gonna stab himself,
set the fire,
and run out and pretend
that he's fought against two intruders?
It was such a crazy story.
[indistinct chatter]
[in French] Mr. Maher,
M-A-H-E-R,
made his full confession this morning.
He himself admits
that he acted alone for personal reasons.
Alone!
There's no suggestion of a conspiracy,
no indication that it was commissioned.
He acted alone.
That is what he is telling us.
[reporter] Has the CCTV footage
been viewed?
The exterior footage showed nothing,
and neither did the interior footage.
We don't know if it's damaged
or tampered with.
We just don't know.
[indistinct chatter]
[reporter in English] Maher's confession
is expected to result in a formal charge
of arson leading to homicide,
which could carry a life prison sentence.
[Ted] The next thing I know,
I'm being transported to jail.
You can't imagine the hell
I was going through,
being brought into those doors,
thinking about my wife and children
and how long I was gonna be
away from them.
[dramatic music playing]
[Ted] I knew that I had to prove
my innocence.
[helicopter blades whirring]
[intriguing music playing]
[reporter] Michael Griffith,
an American lawyer,
has volunteered to assist
with Ted's defense.
They will rue the day
that Mike Griffith came to Monaco.
I'm ready when you are. [Inhales sharply]
[Hodge] All right, we rolling?
[seagulls cawing]
[Griffith] The first meeting I had
with Ted is in the prison in Monaco.
At that time,
all I know is Ted Maher
was a former American Green Beret
charged for the death of Edmond Safra.
So when I met Ted, I took pictures
of his stomach with the knife wounds.
The police said that
he stabbed himself to be a hero.
Of course, Ted said,
"I got stabbed by two intruders."
Ted told me
a day before the incident occurred,
he was abducted off the streets of Nice
by people in a van.
[clears throat]
What happened was
[dog barking]
[Ted] I was just, you know,
walking down the street.
And I noticed this white van
was definitely keeping an eye on me,
following me.
I'm like,
"What the heck is this all about?"
[suspenseful music playing]
Soon as I I mean, it happened so quick,
and I was just pushed into this van.
[indistinct shouting]
[Ted] These guys were masked.
They had guns,
and their voices were Russian.
They showed him pictures of his wife
coming out of their home in New York,
pictures of his children.
You know, they made it really clear that,
you know, I would do what I was told to,
make sure these steel shutters,
which cover the windows
in Mr. Safra's apartment,
are open on one night in particular.
I said, "I'm not even working
this night. I'm off."
And then they said, "You will be there."
Ted was told to follow these instructions,
or else you'll be sorry.
If I do something wrong,
my family's gonna be killed,
murdered, missing, hurt.
[dramatic music playing]
What a horrible feeling.
[cars honking]
[Ted] Now remember,
I'm not meant to be working that night.
But then, it was early evening, and
- [cell phone ringing]
- [exhales]
there I'm at the hotel,
and the phone rang.
[cell phone ringing]
[Ted] It was
one of the managers for the Safras,
and he said, "Mr. Maher, um,
I know it's short notice, but one of
the nurses had a problem with her visa,"
and I had to work.
[Hodge] Okay, so take me back
to the night of.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Ted] The nurse working with me
that night, Vivian,
she started in Safra's bedroom,
and we would rotate back and forth
through the entire night.
I checked all the windows,
and the steel shutters are all closed.
But then I noticed the nursing station
shutters were still open.
[wind blowing]
[Ted] I'm like,
"Well, I I don't have to do anything."
Now I know that this is open for a reason.
It's a pretty sickening feeling,
knowing that something's gonna happen
and you don't have any idea what.
[ticks]
[Ted] I was in a little room
that Safra utilized for a gym.
The next thing I know,
I'm hit over the back of the head.
I see the intruders.
These two guys are masked.
My Special Forces training took over.
I grab a ten-kilo weight.
I hit one of the guys. He went down.
The other guy, he had the knife.
This guy came forward with a knife
and hit me mid-side
where I'm grabbing his hand
and coming down.
[dramatic sting]
[Ted] Then I blacked out.
[panting]
After being unconscious
for maybe a couple seconds,
I came to, and I'm bleeding.
I'm looking around. I don't see anybody.
But the apartment was huge.
I went to the bedroom where Safra was,
and Vivian says,
"Oh my God, you're bleeding."
And I said, "Somebody's broken in,
and put Safra in what we call a safe room,
and here's my cell phone."
"Call for help."
[door slides shut]
Safra slammed the door and said,
"Sound the alarm."
In Mr. Safra's bedroom, there was an alarm
that Ted did not know about.
Nobody had ever trained us for, like,
"Oh, there's a 911 emergency,"
so nobody else knew about it.
[Griffith] The only alarm that Ted knew
was a fire alarm.
[Ted] We had a small trash can there.
In French, it's called a poubelle.
I put it right underneath the smoke alarm,
and I lit some tissue into the can.
[alarm beeps]
[Ted] And the alarm went off.
Vivian's calling on my phone.
I'm like, "Damn, somebody has to come."
[alarm continues beeping]
[Ted] I make it to the elevator.
I'm feeling real dizzy, and I pass out.
[sound distorts]
If your client,
who's facing many years in prison,
says that's his story, no matter
how many times I would grill him on it,
then I have to go with his story.
[cell phone ringing]
Michael Griffith.
I was contacted by Ted's wife, Heidi.
She told me what happened to her.
[Heidi over phone] Lily Safra,
Edmond's wife
[Griffith] Heidi was contacted
by Lily Safra's staff.
[Heidi over phone] My concern was Ted.
Is he all right?
Because I was told he was injured badly.
[girl] Mommy, where are you going?
Heidi and her brother
were invited over to Monaco,
and their fare paid by Lily Safra.
[Heidi over phone] I took a plane
with my brother straight to Nice
and was greeted with a limo
at the airport.
The limo was supposed to bring me
straight to the hospital to see Ted.
[Griffith] On the way to the hospital,
a phone call came in
to the driver of the limo.
[Heidi over phone] The limo
all of a sudden turned around
and brought us
straight to the police station.
I asked why,
and they said we needed to help confirm
who I was to see my husband,
so I had my passport and everything.
I was questioned
at the police station extensively,
the background, how he got the job.
[fluttering]
[Heidi over phone] I left
the police station for a break outside
with my brother.
Suddenly, a car came up with three people,
all dressed in black jumpsuits,
and grabbed us and kidnapped us.
[sobbing]
They held us in a room in a hotel
for three days under surveillance
and took our passports.
[medical monitor beeping]
[Ted] I wake up in a hospital bed,
and these two detectives come in.
They say, "There's been a huge fire,
and Edmond Safra and Vivian have died."
And right then, I mean,
I I wept like a baby.
I mean, I couldn't believe
that they had died.
I mean, it was like, in my mind,
I'm like, "From what?"
They showed me a newspaper
and said, "You're responsible for this."
"Sign these documents."
"What are you talking about
sign documents? I'm not signing anything."
"Yeah, this shows you're responsible
for what you did."
And I said, "Listen, I have not killed
anybody, and I'm not signing anything."
But this police officer said,
"You're gonna sign this,
otherwise your wife's not gonna
go back to your children."
And they showed me my wife's passport.
What a horrible feeling.
My family's been threatened.
I mean, you can't imagine
what's gonna happen
if, you know,
if I don't sign this document.
[Hodge] So do you sign the document?
Yeah. What else
What what would any man do?
Your wife's not gonna go back
to your children.
You know, two-and-a-half,
three-and-a-half-year-old,
a eight-year-old.
Sure, I signed it.
[Hodge] What did the document say?
Well, at that point,
I had no idea what it said.
It was all in French.
[monitor beeping continues]
[reporter] In his confession,
Ted Maher said
he never wanted to harm Edmond Safra,
that he was an excellent employer.
As for all the talk of a wider plot,
prosecutors now say there was none,
that they believe Ted Maher acted alone.
It sort of sounded plausible
that he set the fire
so that he could be the big rescuer
and that he stabbed himself in the stomach
to add drama to the situation.
[monitor beeping continues]
[Vincent] But according to Ted,
it was a forced statement.
[Heidi over phone] Ted gave up it all
because it was his family. [Sobbing]
Hi, Daddy.
[Ted over phone]
I hope to be home soon, okay?
- Mm-hmm. I sent you a picture.
- [Ted] I love you.
- [Heidi] Love you too.
- [Ted] Never forget that.
Bye. Love you.
[Ted] Bye-bye.
I love you.
[Ted] Oh, Heidi, I love you.
I had no motive.
Why would I wanna kill a golden goose
that was giving me a $10,000 golden egg
a month as a paycheck
just to take care of my children
and my wife and my apartment?
And he's paying me $600 a shift.
I mean, you know, I have everything.
I have more than anything
I could ever dream of.
Why would anybody risk losing that?
[mysterious music playing]
[Mr. X] In crimes,
you're always looking for
who had any benefits for that.
[reporter 1] Safra and his nurse
both suffocated to death.
His wife managed to escape.
[reporter 2 in French] The banker's wife,
at the other end of the apartment
when the tragedy occurred,
has not been treated as a suspect.
[in English] Edmond left
his fortune to his wife.
[dramatic music playing]
[Vincent] This is her third husband.
When I was researching Lily Safra,
there was absolutely no information
about her early life.
How does somebody from Rio de Janeiro,
who grows up middle-class,
ascend to the heights of world society?
You know, she marries four times.
Each time, her fortunes go up.
What was it about her?
Why was she so seductive?
I became totally obsessed.
[bird caws]
[Vincent] I moved to Brazil
'cause I knew how difficult it was
to find anything in Brazil.
I tracked people down,
but they would just totally clam up.
And they were so afraid of Lily.
I think people had this this view of her
as a dangerous woman.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Vincent] There was always this fear
that people were following me.
I was sure somebody
was watching the apartment.
I finally got Lily's school records.
There were clues about where she lived.
So I went to the neighborhoods,
and people still remembered her.
Then I discovered these parallels
between Edmond's death
and what happened with husband number two,
Alfredo Monteverde.
Freddy Monteverde.
Do you know that story?
[singing in Portuguese over speakers]
[Griffith] He was
one of the richest men in Brazil.
He owned hundreds of department stores.
[Vincent] They were called Pontofrio,
named after the refrigerators
they imported.
- [singing over speakers continues]
- [rattling]
[Vincent] Lily married Alfredo
in the '60s.
A couple of years after they married,
he died under
rather strange circumstances.
[mysterious music playing]
[Vincent] When I got the autopsy report,
I found out he committed suicide
by shooting himself
twice.
So the first two husbands
both died of natural causes. No one...
I don't think either of them was murdered.
[Hodge] Well, the second one
died of two gunshot wounds to the chest.
Okay.
So So he was kill
So so so he was murdered?
[Hodge] They ruled it a suicide.
Yeah, I don't know
how you shoot yourself twice. [Chuckles]
[gun cocking twice]
The whole thing was totally implausible.
It was ridiculous.
[reporter in Portuguese]
Alfredo Monteverde
was found dead at his residence.
Police investigations
concluded it was a case of suicide.
[Lady C in English] Rosita Fanto,
Freddy Monteverde's sister,
was a great friend of mine.
Freddy had discovered that Lily
was having an affair with Edmond Safra.
Freddy called Rosita and told her
that he would be getting in touch
with his lawyers to divorce Lily.
And shortly thereafter,
Freddy was found dead.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Vincent] What was strange was the speed
with which Lily secured his assets.
[Lady C] When Rosita realized
what had happened, she went ballistic.
It was rightfully her money.
[Vincent] In the will
Lily gave to everybody,
there was no mention
of his mother and sister,
who were the original shareholders
in his company.
Certainly there were parallels
with the Safra situation.
Both wills were changed
mere weeks before they died.
Happy birthday, dear Edmond
[Lady C] Edmond agreed to change the will
and then was going to reverse it.
[Vincent] His two brothers, who were like
his best friends, Moise and Joseph,
are all of a sudden erased from the will.
And Lily inherits $4.8 billion, tax-free.
So about a week before Edmond died,
they both became Monegasque citizens.
And if you're a Monegasque citizen,
you do not pay tax.
Is that coincidence, or is that by design?
It's very convenient.
I warmly congratulate you
on reaching this notable milestone.
Mrs. Lily Safra.
[Vincent] But the main reason
people suspected Lily
was because on the night that Edmond died,
the bodyguards
supposedly had the night off.
[reporter] Not one member
of Safra's personal army
was with him the night of the fire.
[Mr. X] A few months before,
Lily gave a clear order
that she doesn't want any security there
because Monaco is secure.
So I went to see Edmond,
and he told me,
"Listen, do what you need to do
without Lily knowing it."
I ask you to stay in your chairs.
We have a surprise for you.
[audience applauds]
[Mr. X] But Lily fired me,
and Samuel Cohen
was the new head of security.
He was a Lily person,
working exactly the way she wants.
[inaudible]
Now to that murder mystery
rocking the financial world this morning.
Investigators in Monte Carlo
are questioning the bodyguard
of one of the world's richest men
to find out why he wasn't around
when a deadly fire broke out
in Edmond Safra's
exclusive Riviera penthouse.
Lily Safra's hand is traceable throughout.
Edmond.
My husband.
[in French] Edmond, my dear.
Thank you. Thank you.
- [in English] Thank you.
- [audience applauding]
I'm feeling closer
to my husband than ever.
[thunder cracking]
[reporter in French]
The trial of Ted Maher has begun.
He faces life in prison.
[in English] But Monaco was
quite determined to blame the nurse.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Griffith] This was not
an open-and-shut case.
And unfortunately, I wasn't impressed
with the Monaco lawyers
representing Ted at the time.
I'm Sandrine Setton.
For the young lawyer I was at the time,
this case was fantastic.
I was part of the defense team
before Mr. Griffith came in,
and in terms of defense,
we disagreed completely.
We didn't see eye to eye.
They wanted Ted
to stick to the confession.
[Ted] The Monaco attorneys said,
"You can't go back on this now
because it would show that you're lying."
I'm like, "What do you mean?"
"I'm being given a document
that could have been in Swahili."
I said, "Hey, wait a minute, Ted.
Your wife was abducted
to force you to make this confession."
"Let's go that route."
[Setton] But we thought his story,
the two guys coming in,
wounding him and so on,
would not be regarded as true,
because we never believed
that had ever happened.
[Ted] They said, "Michael doesn't know
how the system works up here."
"If you do what he says,
you're gonna get yourself
into a lot of trouble."
The worst sentence for Ted
would have been life prison.
"You do wanna go back to your family,
right? You need to trust us."
I have to make a decision right then.
Which way do I go? What do I do?
Finally, Ted said
he will not go back on his confession.
I said, "Unbelievable." I demanded to know
who these guys were representing,
Ted or the Safra family
or Monaco, whatever.
He was told this is the best way to go.
Heidi, I don't know what to tell you.
- This is our life. This is Ted's life.
- [Griffith] This is your life. Right.
[indistinct chatter]
[Vincent] The trial becomes
like a whole circus.
- [indistinct chatter]
- [camera shutters clicking]
[Vincent] Everybody's covering it.
[Griffith] Ted's trial
was the O.J. case of Europe.
[in French] Let's turn now
to the trial taking place in Monaco.
[reporter] Media from
around the world have gathered.
[Vincent in English] Ted's charged
with arson resulting in the death
of Edmond and Vivian Torrente.
The trial was a chance
to find the answers.
What really transpired
in Safra's penthouse?
[dramatic music playing]
[General Prosecutor in French] Mr. Maher
intended
to stage an attack, one he could claim
to have fought off single-handedly.
[Setton in English]
The prosecution raised the theory
of he has planned the whole story
to be the hero.
[Vincent] The prosecution claimed that
he was in financial straits,
so he wanted to show
Edmond Safra, his boss,
what a great hero he could be.
[Setton] Mr. Safra
would have gratified Ted with money.
So for him, that was a jackpot.
[camera shutters clicking]
[Setton] The chief of the nurses,
Sonia Herkrath,
came as a witness.
[Vincent] So Sonia was the head nurse,
and she was a key witness
for the prosecution.
[birds chirping]
[Herkrath] I had been working
for Mr. Safra since March 1998,
when Ted started to work for Mr. Safra.
Even in the beginning,
Ted was very unhappy with me.
He would complain
that I'm not giving him enough shifts
and that he wasn't getting enough money
to support his family.
[Hodge] He'd said that
he wasn't supposed to be working
on that Friday, but then he was?
It's not true.
He was scheduled
as he was scheduled. He made it up.
In her testimony, there were
some very strong allegations made.
[Hodge] Let's fast-forward to the night
of the incident in Monaco.
Can you describe what happened that night?
[suspenseful music playing]
[Herkrath] The evening
of December 2nd, 1999,
a male attendant and I had taken care
of Mr. Safra during the day.
So we gave a report to Vivian and to Ted.
I noticed that Ted was kind of frantic
and couldn't wait for us
to get out of the penthouse.
There was something not quite right.
[clock ticking]
[Herkrath] Mrs. Safra went to bid
Mr. Safra good night,
and Ted supposedly made the remarks,
"You're gonna sleep well tonight,
Mrs. Safra."
The problem is that Sonia
was not a reliable
witness.
There was really an antagonism
between these two.
She thought he wanted to take her job.
[Griffith] Sonia was the top dog.
Her and Ted, they didn't get along.
It was a power thing.
Sonia, she thought
I was gonna take her job away.
And I was like, "That's ridiculous."
It just didn't matter to me, so
[Herkrath] Ted had
a Jekyll and Hyde personality.
He was overly aggressive.
When we are boosting Mr. Safra up in bed,
Ted would have the tendency
to say, "Easy, easy,"
as if to say you're not being careful.
[inhales]
And so, of course,
Mr. Safra, hearing this, would favor Ted,
and they immediately entrusted
the care of Mr. Safra to him.
I just couldn't get it past her
that I didn't want her job title.
I just wanna work. I'm here for my family.
They seemed to be at each other's throats,
jockeying for position
in front of their boss.
[Herkrath] During the recess of the trial
- [camera shutters clicking]
- one of the lawyers of Mrs. Safra said,
"Sonia, you are a very brave girl."
[Hodge] Ted told me Sonia was paid
$100,000 to testify against him.
I don't know about that.
[Heidi over phone] Sonia, the head nurse,
was paid by Lily,
as in a confidential agreement
in, quote, "not help Ted."
All the nurses were paid this.
It's not true.
I'm convinced, you know, that Ted did it.
He really wanted to be a hero
in the eyes of Mr. Safra,
but it turned haywire.
[Setton] The lawyer of Mrs. Safra
questioned Heidi.
[lawyer] You wrote in a letter to Ted
that money was his mistress.
What did you mean by that?
[Heidi] I don't even remember it.
He was more stressed
about bills than I was.
We would always have a mortgage.
Yeah, he was stressed about money.
But I know my husband.
He wouldn't hurt people.
[camera shutters clicking]
There was so much more
I wanted to say, but I froze at times.
I just pray for the truth to come out.
[inaudible]
[Vincent] The next evidence
the prosecution brought forward
was the footage.
[Setton] The Belle poque
was full of cameras.
Outside, inside.
[clicks]
But it appeared
that the image had been erased.
[static buzzing]
[Setton] What was missing
was where it can be shown
that there were intruders.
Two weeks before the fire,
Ted was in the nurse's station,
standing on a chair
and fiddling at the ceiling tiles
to check on the electrical connections.
The prosecutor raised the fact
that Ted, at one point,
was working in a casino
in the video security department.
[Vincent] They claimed that Ted
knew how to dismantle the cameras
because he had experience
when he worked in Las Vegas.
[camera shutters clicking]
And finally, the prosecution brought up
his background with the Green Berets.
[Setton in French] Supposedly,
because he had been assigned
to a ground medical unit,
he knew where he could injure himself
without touching a vital organ.
[Heidi over phone, in English]
They said my husband certainly is guilty,
but he's got abdomen wounds
in places that he can't even reach.
He's left-handed, and they have
stab wounds on the right flank.
If somebody that has any medical knowledge
is gonna stab themselves,
they certainly aren't gonna,
you know, go where your aorta is
and bleed to death.
I mean, this was ridiculous.
[camera shutter clicks]
The evidence shows there's more to this
than Monaco wants us to all know.
[dramatic music playing]
The defense argument
was that Ted was not directly responsible
- [camera shutter clicking]
- for the death of Edmond Safra.
The Monaco police
and the fire department were negligent.
We were gonna hit Monaco and pound them.
[reporter in French] Maher
and his lawyers, including Griffith,
a star of the New York bar,
are seeking to place blame
on the emergency services.
[Griffith] Ted never thought
this could happen.
He thought,
as soon as that smoke detector went off,
that the police would get here
in ten or fifteen minutes, and they did.
And guess what?
It took them another two and a half hours.
We would prove the police
created the time frame
for Mr. Safra and Vivian Torrente
to be dead.
[suspenseful music playing]
[ticking]
[metallic clang]
- [ticking]
- [Vincent] 4:49 a.m.
- [alarm beeps]
- [Vincent] The fire alarm sounds.
4:53 a.m.,
the concierge in the lobby
of La Belle poque
sees Ted Maher
holding his abdomen with both hands.
He notes in his notebook,
"Man injured by gunshot."
- [ringing]
- [Setton] When the concierge
called the police,
he said, "The guy has been shot."
This confusion had a dramatic effect.
[in French] And that's what caused
a certain delay.
[reporter] An elite unit
insisted on securing the premises,
even if that meant searching through
the building's 23 levels of parking.
[Vincent in English] There were
23 levels of underground parking.
The police had to clear
the entire building
before letting the firemen inside.
[Setton in French] And the clock just
keeps ticking and ticking and ticking.
[in English] I received a phone call
from Vivian, frantically asking me,
"Sonia, please call the police."
- I told them they were already there.
- [police sirens wailing]
After that, I called
the head of security in La Leopolda,
and he zipped through to Monaco.
[Vincent] 5:20 a.m.,
arrival on-site of Samuel Cohen,
responsible for security,
with the keys to their boss's apartment.
[Cohen] When I arrived, I tell them
exactly how and where they need to go.
[clacking]
[Cohen] Nobody listened to what I said,
and they all refused my help.
It was a nightmare.
There was total chaos.
I decided to go up
to the fifth floor by myself.
[General Prosecutor in French] He took
the elevator down to the hotel lobby,
where he was stopped by police officers.
[in English] They tackled him,
handcuffed him,
and said, "You can't go upstairs."
[Cohen] I'm sitting on the floor,
handcuffed.
One of the firemen says, "I'm afraid."
"I have a fear of heights."
[in French] For goodness' sake!
Is it not your job
to be able to climb, to scale heights?
That statement leaves you speechless.
[ticking]
[dramatic sting]
[whooshing]
[Vincent in English] 6:15 a.m.,
first attempt to fight
the fire by firefighters.
[Ted] You're hearing, through testimony,
the policeman tells the firemen,
"Do not advance,"
an hour and 45 minutes after I leave.
Is there something I'm missing here?
I mean, and I'm supposed
to be blamed for that?
[indistinct chatter]
[Herkrath] While Mr. Safra and Vivian
were in the safe room,
- they made six phone calls to me.
- [phone line ringing]
[Herkrath] And they said there was smoke
seeping into the safe room.
I kept begging the police,
"Please, please go to the penthouse."
- [ticking]
- [Vincent] 6:30 a.m.,
- last telephone contact with Vivian.
- [fire alarm beeping]
[Vincent] 7 a.m.,
firefighters enter Safra's room.
[ticking]
[Vincent] 7:45 a.m.,
nearly three hours
after the first call to the police
[smoldering]
discovery of the inanimate bodies
of Edmond Safra,
seated in a red armchair,
and Vivian Torrente lying at his feet.
[pensive music playing]
So the firemen don't put out the fire,
the police don't bust the door down.
It's almost on purpose
that they botched it.
[reporter in French]
The nurse's trial has turned into
a trial of the Monaco police.
[camera shutter clicking]
[Griffith in English] If not for
the gross negligence
of the police and the fire department,
Mr. Safra would have been saved.
[in French] There was
an absolutely colossal blunder,
one that, tragically, ended in disaster.
[reporter] The testimony of
Edmond Safra's security guard is damning.
He paints a picture of total chaos.
[in English] The fact that the security
wasn't there, the police didn't function,
the CCTV didn't function
So many things went really wrong.
They are bizarre.
[dramatic sting]
[Setton] Finally, it was time to hear
Mrs. Lily Safra.
[camera shutters clicking]
[clicks]
[Lily Safra] I went to bed
and I fell asleep.
Then suddenly,
I heard what I thought was the bell
- [bell ringing]
- And it kept ringing.
[ringing]
[Lily Safra] It was the telephone.
It was my husband, and he said,
"Chrie, there are aggressors
in the house."
"They have injured Ted Maher.
Close yourself in and call the police."
Suddenly, all the blinds
opened up by themselves.
[metal shutters clattering]
[Lily Safra] But only to the level
of the railing.
I didn't know how I got out, but I did.
[sirens wailing]
[reporter 1] Safra refused to leave
the bathroom, unconvinced it was safe.
[reporter 2] He even ignored pleas
from his wife,
who called him on a cell phone
to say the coast was clear.
[Lady C] All I know is that Joseph Safra
believed that Lily had killed his brother.
[camera shutters clicking]
Joseph told me that she's the one
who kept him in the strong room,
because there was a code between them.
The code was that if she told Edmond
to come out of the room,
he mustn't open the door
because they were in danger.
He was, um, instructed
not to leave the safe room
until the bodyguards told him
it was okay to do so.
That was the protocol.
And I knew about that protocol
when they were looking after me,
in case some intruders had a gun
to the head of his wife
or something like that.
She was clever. Very clever.
[Vincent] Edmond's brothers
make a statement at the trial
that says,
"There's no question in our minds
that our beloved brother Edmond
and Vivian Torrente
were the victims of nefarious actions."
"Those who were there at the scene
on that fateful morning
each know what they did and did not do."
I mean, it's pretty damning.
[thunder rumbling]
[reporter in French] After more than
two and a half hours of deliberation,
the court found that
the American nurse was responsible
for the deaths
of Edmond Safra and Vivian Torrente.
[in English] Well, isn't justice wonderful
over in Monte Carlo?
An American man has been sentenced
to ten years in prison
in what's being called
"Monaco's trial of the century."
[Ted] They condemned me for ten years
for something that I didn't do.
I think we pushed it too far.
[camera shutters clicking]
[Heidi over phone] I just feel they want
a nice clean ending to all of this
and use my husband as a scapegoat
to make Monaco look like
the safe haven that they want it to be.
[camera shutters clicking]
There's more to the story,
and I'm not ending it here.
[camera shutters clicking]
[suspenseful music playing]
[reporter in French] Edmond's widow.
Now she controls a colossal fortune
of more than $3 billion,
making her one of the richest women
in the world.
The nurse will stay behind bars.
Monaco's honor is preserved.
[Vincent in English]
Reading the transcripts of the trial
and going through everything,
I don't think Ted got a fair trial.
Does anybody get a fair trial in Monaco?
[indistinct shouting in distance]
No justice Monaco!
[seagulls cawing]
[slow Italian music playing]
[in Italian] My name is Luigi Ciardelli.
I was Ted Maher's cellmate.
The American.
[in English] My cellmate, Luigi, was
You know, he was a bad, bad guy.
You know, robbery, cocaine,
and and prostitutes.
That was his life.
[in Italian] I used to rob the rich
to give to the poor guy.
Not to poor people.
Singular, the poor guy. Me.
[chuckles]
[Ciardelli] The prison
can be described as a hotel. Five stars.
[in English] "It's Monte Carlo."
"It's the best prison in the world.
Yada yada."
They give you so much food
and so much cheese
that your cholesterol goes off the chart.
But this is a jail. It's not meant
for long-term incarceration.
[reporter in French] Ted Maher must serve
the rest of his sentence
in a French prison.
[in English] I have three months
before I'm gonna be transferred
to a French prison that's 85% Muslim.
We will continue to hunt down the enemy.
President Bush is playing cowboy
in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I was a dead man.
That was a death sentence.
So I realized I had to get out of there.
I put into motion
an escape.
[indistinct shouting in distance]
[Ciardelli in Italian] On the promenade,
he suggested a game of chess.
[inhales] We play.
He says, "What do you think
about escaping Monte Carlo?"
[Ted in English] I had to trust
somebody that was that bad
because anyone else would have
probably just ratted me out.
[in Italian] I wanted to leave.
The mission, its name?
Monaco: Fuck You.
Everything is secure.
The cameras, external, internal.
Noise detectors and sensors.
To escape seemed very difficult.
It was called the Rock, the Bunker.
[Ted in English] In my cell,
there was a window,
and it had a beautiful view
of the Mediterranean.
But it was through eight levels of bars.
So I got my sister to send me
four hacksaw blades in a small book,
which was hand-carried in
by Father Peter Ball,
who I knew had a pacemaker,
and he wouldn't be going through
a metal detector.
[laughing]
Yeah. Yeah.
[producer in Italian] Ted claims that
he was the one who smuggled in the blades.
[chuckles]
That makes me laugh.
Ted's obsession
with being the main character
is baffling.
[in English] My first obstruction
was a galvanized screen
that was a sixteenth of an inch of metal.
It doesn't sound like very much, but when
it's galvanized, it can be very abrasive.
[Ciardelli in Italian]
The really dense ones,
when you saw through them,
make a lot of noise.
the right to remain silent
[Ciardelli in Italian] As long as it was
TV time, the volume was turned up high.
[in English] After cutting the bars,
it would take me an hour
of what I call camouflage.
[Ciardelli in Italian] Ash was required.
I mixed the ash
from the cigarettes with glue.
Then I would paint over with the ash.
He would pat me on the back and say,
"You're good, hey! Picasso. Picasso."
[metal filing]
[Ted in English] Took me five and a half
weeks to get through those bars.
- [metal filing]
- [metal snaps]
[sports commentator speaking French]
[Ciardelli in Italian] That night
there was a Champions League match.
All the guards were watching the TV
with their backs turned
to the video surveillance cameras.
[suspenseful music playing]
[in English] And so I said,
"Luigi, we're gonna go, all right?"
Ted, just a moment, please.
You [slapping]
[in Italian] big ass. [Chuckles]
[in English] I, no.
And then Luigi said, "Oh, no, I I gotta
go first 'cause I'm the lightest person."
"Luigi, I don't care, first, whatever."
[in Italian] I pass through, I climb down.
The rope is hanging
because he still had to come down.
And Ted is there
kicking around with his legs.
And I leave.
Monaco, fuck off!
Monaco, fuck off! [Chuckling]
[in English] So he basically
left me to out to dry.
Once again, Ted got fucked. [Chuckling]
That guy ran off to Italy.
[dramatic sting]
So Ted starts to go through the window,
and he gets stuck.
He told me, he gets stuck.
So he says, finally,
after about five or ten minutes,
he did one of these Lamaze things,
you know [inhales] you know,
and he finally popped out.
Of course, Ted had
the most well-known face in Monaco.
[Ted] Over there, the prisons
don't have orange jumpsuits.
They dressed you
like you're a normal person,
almost like a tourist.
[Griffith] And he's walking down the hill,
and there's three gendarmes,
three police officers,
standing there with their hats
and everything.
And the cops say to him,
"Bonsoir, monsieur."
He says, "Bonsoir, monsieur." [laughing]
He then walked
all the way to Nice, 25 miles.
[thunder rumbling]
I've done it. Holy fuck.
I'm in another country.
I'm not in Monte Carlo. I'm in France.
By that time, it was drizzling,
raining, and it was cold.
I come up to a two-star hotel.
It was all closed up at night,
so I knocked on the door.
And the guy came out,
and I spoke to him in French,
telling him that my car broke down,
I'm American.
"Can I use the telephonie
une minute, s'il vous plat?"
"Oh, yeah, no problem, allez."
So he let me in.
[Griffith] Ted didn't have any money,
so he calls up his sister.
She says, "Oh my God, just so so happy
that I can speak to you."
And I said, "Give me your Visa number."
She gives him a credit card.
He then calls... You ready for this?
He calls his priest, Father Ball.
And he says, "Father,"
he says, "Look," he says, "I need money."
"Could you drive to some
And I'll meet you on the road near Nice."
And then he calls his wife.
I said, "Who is this?"
And he said, "It's me, Ted."
And he just kept talking.
I couldn't even speak.
[inhales] He said, "I'm out."
And I said, "You're what?"
He said, "I'm out."
Before I could go any further,
"Oh my God, you're a fugitive."
"I'm not speaking to you.
I'm gonna get in trouble too."
Uh, "I have nothing to say to you."
And she hung up the phone.
If that wasn't enough,
she calls my Monegasque attorney,
and he contacts the prison.
His lawyer says,
"Is my client still there?"
They see my bed. I'm in bed.
"Yeah, yeah, he's still here."
"Allez, Mr. Maher. Allez."
Pull back the cover.
"Oh, putain de merde."
The reverend calls the police,
and the police trace the phone call.
[siren wailing]
I'm hypothermic. I fill up that bathtub
as hot as it can get,
and there I am smoking a cigar.
Free at last.
I sleep like a baby.
[sirens wailing]
[Griffith] Checkout time is 12 o'clock.
Ted stays till 12.
Five minutes before 12,
the police rush up and grab him,
and they took him off.
I didn't have time to get on my underwear.
[camera shutters clicking]
Jesus, I mean, I've gone through all that
to be betrayed by your wife,
by your attorney, by your priest.
My God, it doesn't get
any worse than that.
[Griffith over phone]
It's too early to tell,
but he's definitely created
some kind of international incident here.
Wonderful.
[somber music playing]
I did the best I could to bring him home,
but now it seems like
he's doing his own job of screwing up.
Part of me wanted him home,
but the bigger part of me
was scared to death to have him here.
I know the kids need their dad,
but I don't think it's healthy
to have Ted in their life.
I don't need him, and I don't want him.
He just screwed up the next seven years
of his life, at least,
and the rest of his life, actually,
'cause he will not know his kids
by the time he gets home. [Voice breaking]
And he will certainly not know me.
[Herkrath] I think Heidi Maher realized
that she was married to a crazy man.
Shortly thereafter, she divorced him.
Remember, I mentioned previously
that the wife was abducted
by Lily Safra's chauffeur.
[Heidi] The limo was supposed to bring me
straight to the hospital to see Ted.
But the limo all of a sudden turned around
and brought us
straight to the police station.
We brought a lawsuit against Lily Safra
on behalf of Heidi for the abduction.
Before the court appearance in New York,
Heidi called me and said,
"I wanna drop everything."
[sirens wailing in distance]
[Ted] The trial was set to take place
in New York City,
but two days before the trial,
Heidi dropped the lawsuit.
And why would she drop that?
Monies were involved.
Off the record for a minute.
Don't I'm just talking to you now
because, allegedly
Uh
[beeping]
in cash.
[beeping]
[Hodge] Wow.
But I can't say that on the air.
Lily Safra paid her,
paid her right out to stop the lawsuit.
I I I I don't know
that there was or wasn't.
But of course,
two and two equals four at times.
Later on, I found out
that a house in New York
was purchased for $360,000,
no loan, nothing.
[Lady C] Lily was far too subtle
to say, "I'm bribing you."
It was, "Oh, you poor thing."
"My lawyer will give you a check
for $250,000."
Anything inconvenient was forgotten.
[dogs barking]
[Ted] Now I'm in a French prison,
and I have to get
an extradition back to Monaco
for a second trial
for, you know, escaping the prison.
And I was given nine months
on top of the original sentence.
[magical music playing]
[Ted] After spending 2,865 days in prison
[reporter in French] Judge Hullin
has just come down hard
on the justice system in Monaco.
[Ted in English] one of
the judges involved in my case
made a public statement.
"Remember the male nurse,
you know, Ted Maher, involved in Safra?"
"The whole trial was prearranged
before he even set foot in the courtroom."
[whooshing]
[reporter in French] Judge Hullin
is denouncing certain practices.
At times, in criminal cases, sentences
were known even before the hearings.
[in English] The judge had decided
to find him guilty from the very outset.
It's very Alice in Wonderland.
Are you ready for your sentence?
Sentence?
But there must be a verdict first.
It really is, like,
the verdict then the trial.
[reporter in French]
Judge Hullin's accusations
before the Monaco Court of Appeal
have shaken the Rock.
[in English] Can people be paid off?
Can authorities be paid off? Yeah.
Monaco's a bit of a banana republic.
[stomping]
[reporter in French] In Monaco,
the prince demands an iron fist.
At the root of the severity
of Monaco's justice system,
the principality's image,
which must be safeguarded at all costs.
[Browder in English] Monaco is
a sort of private billionaire's club.
And all of a sudden, one
of your biggest billionaires gets killed.
What's your incentive?
Your incentive is,
this doesn't happen here.
You don't have to worry.
Come to Monaco. You won't be killed.
Monaco is run by Prince Albert.
[inaudible]
[Browder] Now, Prince Albert
is not a particularly pleasant character.
He was a big friend of Vladimir Putin.
Anyone who's ever seen the picture
of Putin on horseback without a shirt on,
that was taken in Siberia
on a trip that Prince Albert
and Putin went on together.
In my mind, anyone
who's sort of that chummy with Putin,
some of Putin's nastiness
rubs off on them.
Putin's army of propagandists
came up with all sorts
of allegations against me.
They accused me
of the murder of Edmond Safra.
[Hodge] In your mind,
who killed Edmond Safra?
The Russians. The Russian Mafia.
And Lily had some sort of part in it,
only because [scoffs]
there's too many things
that are leading that way.
[camera shutters clicking]
After Edmond's death, Lily decides
she's gonna sell La Leopolda.
[reporter in French] A villa is about
to become the most expensive in the world.
A preliminary agreement
is said to have been signed.
The buyer's name remains unknown.
But all eyes are turning to Russia.
[in English] The man who ends up
entering into a contract to buy the house
is Mikhail Prokhorov.
[reporter] Prokhorov, a Russian
nickel magnate worth $18 billion.
He is one of Russia's richest men.
[Vincent] He offers $500 million.
So he puts down his 10% deposit
of $50-something million,
and the deal doesn't go through.
And Lily says,
"Too bad, I'm gonna keep the cash."
She keeps the $50 million,
and he goes away.
Was that some kind of a weird payoff?
[man] $53 million just gone. Poof.
I I I just can't believe
anyone can take $53 million in stride.
I don't care how rich you are.
[pensive music playing]
[Griffith] Even though a judge said
that the trial was rigged,
Ted wasn't released early.
Ted still served his time.
[engine revving]
[whirring]
[Ted] When I was finally released,
I was led to the heliport
[helicopter blades whirring]
and I was flown to Nice.
And from there, I flew back to JFK.
Free at last. Free at last.
I am free. Yep.
[Hodge] Right, we're good. Let's cut.
Thank you, Ted.
Yep.
[mysterious music playing]
[Hodge] This is where the story
was meant to end.
But shortly after this interview,
something interesting happened.
Ted went missing
- For months.
- [phone line ringing]
- [indistinct radio chatter]
- [police sirens wailing]
[Ted over phone] There are over a hundred
police officers looking for me.
I am not going
to fucking jail
for one minute
for something I didn't do.
Especially after what I went through
in Monaco.
I'm not fucking doing it again.
[crackling]
[Hodge] History seemed
to be repeating itself.
Ted had tried to convince me
he was innocent in Monaco,
but now he was back on the run
and claiming to be the fall guy. Again.
[Ted over phone] Hodges, I got fucking
warrants out for my arrest right now.
I don't know where to go.
- [indistinct radio chatter]
- [police sirens wailing]
[Ted over phone] I can't trust anybody,
Hodge. I I just can't.
I'm I'm telling you right now, I need
a safe house, to be honest with you.
Text me later on this afternoon,
and I'll make sure my phone's on,
then we'll touch base again.
But I'm gonna go dark now.
[Hodge] After Monaco,
Ted legally changed his name to Jon Green.
[phone line ringing]
[operator] Search Records,
how may I help you?
I'm trying to figure out some charges
that were brought against somebody.
- Trying to see what the charges are?
- Yeah.
[operator] Okay.
Jon Green.
[operator] You have burglary,
larceny, forgery, fraud.
[Hodge] Oh boy.
[reporter] Green is accused of forging
his estranged wife's checks.
[Ted over phone] This police officer
showed up at the bank.
"Are you Jon Green?"
"Yes. What can I help you with?"
"Can you step outside?"
You know what
this rookie police officer does to me?
She shot me with a fucking Taser.
I realized I have to get the fuck
out of town, like, quick.
[reporter] Police tell us
they have reached out
to other law enforcement in other states
based on tips,
and the FBI is also helping.
[police sirens wailing]
[Ted over phone] The whole thing
was a fucking setup.
I'm telling you,
I have no reason to lie to you.
Even though there's warrants
for my arrest, it's all bullshit.
They're tracking everything.
They were tracking me with the phone
even though the SIM card
wasn't in the damn thing.
You know, I'm looking at this shit on TV.
[on TV] He's definitely very intelligent.
Seems almost like he's, you know,
one step ahead a lot of times.
It's almost like
he's a submarine right now.
He's gone down.
[Ted over phone] You gotta realize, man,
I'm in fucking survival mode.
[ringing]
[Ted over phone] Hey, man, how's it going?
[Hodge] He was calling weekly,
and at times, we were talking for hours.
[Ted over phone] If I mysteriously die
in a car accident,
you're the only person
I've been able to talk to
to tell the whole story.
[Hodge] The more I listened,
the more my objectivity became blurred.
[Ted over phone] It's crazy how they try
to twist shit around
so that it makes things look really bad.
[Hodge] Half the time, I wondered
if he was telling me the truth,
and half the time,
it sounded like a fantasy.
[Ted over phone] So much for being
innocent until proven guilty, right?
[reporter] Good afternoon.
We have developing news.
Police continue their search
for a man with such a bizarre story,
it seems too bizarre to be true.
[Ted over phone] You know I'm innocent,
and it's the same fucking story
every fucking time.
Who am I? I'm a murderer from Monte Carlo.
You don't think there's a pattern here?
Holy fuck!
- Shit.
- [police siren wailing]
[reporter] Developing news.
Jon Green, or should we say Ted Maher,
has been found and arrested.
[Hodge] After spending some time in jail,
Ted was interrogated by detectives.
[detective] Now, I have to advise you
of your rights, okay?
You have the right to remain silent.
Anything you say
[Hodge] Then I got this news.
[operator over phone] an incarcerated
individual at Eddy County Adult Detention.
[Ted] Jon Green.
[operator] To accept this free call,
press 1. To...
[Ted] You're not gonna
fucking believe this, man.
[Hodge] What exactly
are they accusing you of?
[Ted over phone] Criminal conspiracy
in the first degree to commit murder.
[reporter] MTD Radio News.
Police say Jon Green
was serving time in prison
when he allegedly conspired with
and paid another inmate to kill his wife.
Say it again?
Ted did what?
[Hodge] While Ted was in jail
for other charges,
he allegedly hired
a hit man to kill his wife.
[smacks lips] That's a good one.
[in Italian] Oh, Heidi?
[producer] No, a new wife.
[in English] I'm not surprised
that Ted would do a crazy thing like that.
[reporter] The murder plot
never came to fruition,
but Green will go on trial Monday.
[Ted over phone] I mean,
this is fucking blatant lies.
I know what I've done
and I know what I haven't done.
And I'll tell you right now,
I don't give a flying fuck
what anybody thinks right now.
You know, you can tell by looking
in the eyes of the person,
see if they're a fucking bullshit artist
or a fucking scam artist.
When you look into a man's eyes,
you can see
they're telling the fucking truth.
[Hodge] Has this recent thing reinforced
what you've been saying about Monaco?
Absolutely. Absolutely.
And I don't know what
Michael Griffith is thinking now.
This is Ted's life.
He's always stepping in shit.
This is, like,
an ongoing drama with this guy.
Like, it never ends.
[in Italian] Ted holds
the world record for imbecility.
In fact, I could write a book
on Ted's imbecility, and I'd call it
- [keyboard clacking]
- The Imbecilities of Ted Maher.
[in English] It seems
that Ted can do bad things.
Hiring a hit man is crazy.
[inhales, hesitates] Who does that?
[pensive music playing]
[Hodge] I had wanted to believe
Ted's story,
but now I couldn't help but question
the most basic details.
- My military experience?
- [Hodge] Yeah.
[Hodge] His military career
had always impressed me.
to go for Special Forces, was selected.
[Hodge] Was that true?
[man] I'm a member
of the Guardians of the Green Beret.
And we research and root out people
who are telling stories, uh,
about being "real" Green Berets
when they aren't.
[keyboard clacking]
[Hodge] And so is there any
any possible way,
according to this document,
that he was a Green Beret?
There is no way, uh, that he completed
the Special Forces medical course
nor was a Green Beret.
And those stories,
being a Green Beret, are untrue.
[curious music playing]
[man] Thank you. Please be seated.
Uh, now, let's let's bring Green in.
[clerk] Okay.
[dramatic music playing]
[judge] Jon Green is charged
with criminal solicitation
to commit first-degree murder,
willful and deliberate.
[Vincent] And then you start thinking,
"Well, what really happened
in Monaco on December 3rd, 1999?"
- [siren wailing]
- [sound rewinds]
[reporter 1] The mystery deepens
surrounding the death of Edmond Safra.
[reporter 2] Why would he be targeted?
A male nurse now has confessed.
[Vincent] You start
questioning everything.
I was just pushed into this van.
[Vincent] Mysterious people
kidnapping him.
Of course it never happened.
These guys were masked.
I hit the guy, and the one guy went down.
[Vincent] Were there intruders?
I don't think there ever was an intruder.
[Vincent] Ted was never a Green Beret.
[whirring]
All along his life, he made little lies.
This "so-called" confession,
I didn't understand what it said,
'cause it was in French.
[Vincent] Ted's confession
was not in French.
Before he signed,
it was translated into English.
[whirring]
It's crazy. It's just insane.
He transformed the reality in his favor.
- [Herkrath] There were just so many lies.
- It's a lot of imagination.
[Setton] I have no doubt
that Ted was the one responsible,
and there was never ever any conspiracy.
[gavel banging]
[judge] It's time, Mr. Green.
If I can have you please stand.
We find the defendant, Jon Green,
guilty of criminal solicitation
to commit first-degree murder,
willful and deliberate,
as charged in count one.
Mr. Green will remain in custody
pending this sentencing.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,
this concludes your service on this trial.
[inaudible]
[Herkrath] I feel sad, in a way.
He ruined his life
for whatever motivation he had.
Poor darling.
[lock buzzes, opens]
[door closes]
[sighs]
[Hodge] Honestly, it doesn't look good
from my vantage point.
It feels like there's a
a repeating pattern here,
you know, with Monaco.
Well, this Monaco
Monaco, that was 20 years ago.
- [Hodge] Right.
- So this is not like a, you know
A a repeat of of Monaco.
I mean, you know, it just boils my blood
that the prosecution
could even bring that up.
Jon Green was not in in in Monaco.
Ted Maher was.
And there's a reason
why that court order was assigned
[Hodge] Ted continued to profess
his innocence.
Just like in Monaco,
and now in the States,
he was behind bars and wrongfully accused.
The truth will come out at some point.
[Hodge] Is he the unluckiest man
in the world,
or is he a serial liar
who refuses to take responsibility?
[Hodge] Do you remember me asking you
three years ago, I said, "Are you a liar?"
- Am I a liar?
- [Hodge] Yeah.
No, absolutely not. Absolutely not.
[Hodge] I'm gonna ask you again.
Are you a liar?
No. Absolutely not.
[Hodge] Have you been truthful to me?
Yes. Everybody in this room.
[inhales] You know,
you can look in my eyes
and see if I'm telling the truth.
There's no reason to lie. It's done.
[Hodge] Over the last four years,
I've come to know
and have compassion for Ted.
So this was not the ending for him
I had hoped for.
I can only conclude that Ted's version
of events has become his reality.
[Hodge] I asked you a long time ago,
I said, "Who killed Edmond Safra?"
Who killed Edmond Safra?
The Russians. The Russian Mafia.
- [Hodge] Has your opinion changed on that?
- No.
Maybe you should get out and take a trip
to Russia and ask ask Vladimir about it.
[door slams shut]
[curious music playing]
- [car honking]
- [sirens wailing in distance]
[telephone ringing]
I'm filming. I can't speak now.
Is it important?
[dramatic music playing]
[keys jangling]
[lock buzzes open]
[dramatic sting]
[metal filing]
[curious music playing]
[suspenseful music playing]
[music ends]