A look back at the incredible story of the Safra couple
The fire broke out on December 3, 1999. It cost the lives of Edmond Safra and his nurse.
Lily Safra died last Saturday, July 9, in Geneva. She had lived the incredible story that took place in Monaco 20 years ago. The accused criminal was again arrested in the United States last June.
The opportunity to look back on one of the rare events that shook the Principality, the arson attack on the penthouse of Lily Safra and her husband, Edmond Safra. This had cost the life of the rich banker as well as one of his nurses.
On December 3, 1999, a few days after the Monegasque naturalization of the deceased, a fire broke out at night in the couple’s apartment. The investigation will reveal that it was the nurse, Ted Maher, who set fire to the penthouse and made believe in the attack of an armed group. He wanted to fake a heroic rescue of the family.
Instead, Edmond Safra and his nurse take refuge in the bathroom of the bunker apartment. Lily Safra, she decides to join the balcony from where she will be saved. Help cannot enter the apartment that Edmond Safra has barricaded for fear of an assassination attempt. This is how he and his nurse died of suffocation from the noxious fumes.
Following his death, his fortune was shared between several charities and his wife Lily Safra decided to perpetuate the memory of her husband by continuing all his charitable activities.
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As for the American, Ted Maher, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter in Monaco prison in 2002. A year later, he escaped from prison but was caught shortly after in Nice. He was released in 2007 and returned to live in the United States.
Last June, Ted Maher a new summer stopped in Texas on four counts: burglary, theft, forgery and fraud.