Billionaire banker Edmond Safra died at age 67 from smoke inhalation during a fire in his fortified Monaco penthouse in December 1999. The fire was started by his own nurse, Ted Maher, a former Green Beret, who confessed four days later that he had set the blaze and stabbed himself "to draw attention to himself."
Security measures that trapped him
Safra, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, slept alone in the penthouse he shared with his wife Lily, so he could take essential medication at night without disturbing her. A team of four doctors and eight nurses provided round-the-clock care, and he employed a 25-strong security detail.
His apartment had heavy reinforced steel doors, bulletproof glass windows, and steel shutters that were "literally impossible to open from the outside," according to YouTuber Mr Ballen in a podcast about the death. On the night of the fire, Safra had allowed his security guards to go home, leaving only himself, his wife, and two nurses in the 10,000-square-foot apartment.
The night of the fire
Maher, who was on duty that night, raised the alarm by bursting into Safra's bedroom covered in blood from two deep stab wounds. He ordered Safra and overnight nurse Vivian Torrente into an adjoining dressing-room that doubled as a safe room, but the house was already filling with smoke.
Prosecutor Daniel Serdet said Safra "was worried. He did not feel secure . . . He refused to open the door," and also would not open the window that might have let smoke escape. The elaborate security measures delayed firefighters, and thick smoke prevented them from seeing the concealed door to the panic room. Safra and Torrente died from smoke inhalation.
Investigation and confession
Initial suspicion fell on hired assassins or on Lily Safra, who stood to inherit $3 billion and was the only person to emerge unscathed. However, Serdet could not figure out how the physically small and frail 64-year-old could have overpowered and stabbed Maher repeatedly, and no suspects were spotted on CCTV cameras.
Maher, who had joined Safra's staff recently on a salary of $600 a day, confessed that he started the fire and stabbed himself in the thigh and stomach. His motive was that he did not get on with the other nurses and worried they might get him fired. The plan went awry after blood loss left him delirious, and the fire burned out of control.
Trial and aftermath
In a case described as Monaco's "Trial of the Century," Maher's lawyer Michael Griffith admitted: "It was a stupid, most insane thing a human being could do." He added that Maher "did not intend to kill Mr. Safra. He just wanted Mr. Safra to appreciate him more. He loved Mr. Safra. This was the best job of his life."
In December 2002, Maher was convicted in the arson deaths of Safra and Torrente and sentenced to 10 years in jail. Less than two months later, he and a cellmate sawed through bars and escaped using a rope made of knotted rubbish bags; he was found in Nice, about 15 miles away. After release, he changed his name to Jon Green and was arrested for kidnapping three search and rescue dogs owned by his ex-wife, then a year later for paying a former cellmate to poison his wife. He was sentenced for that crime in 2025 and is expected to serve nine years.
