Murder, Secrets and Lies

Opposite page: French investment banker Edouard Stern was found dead in his lavish penthouse Left inset: Stern was embroiled in ugly litigation with a Russian company This photo: The fire that ripped through ’s penthouse mansion asphixiated the tycoon who had barricaded himself in the steel-doored safe room

n the afternoon of Tuesday, March 1, three business Two famously wealthy European associates of multimillionaire French investment banker financiers died under highly mysterious Edouard Stern gingerly opened the door to his lavish Geneva penthouse. While loathe to invade his privacy, circumstances. One in a bizarre shooting they were also worried: Uncharacteristically, Stern had missed two morning appointments. last March, the other six years ago, when OStern’s cleaning lady let them in and they hesitantly padded down the hallway to his bedroom. What greeted them was a confoundingly an arson blaze engulfed his eerie sight; a mix of murderous gore and a kinkily erotic scenario. An penthouse. But are the right people behind alien-like form lay on the floor, encased head to toe in a flesh-coloured, latex bodysuit and unrecognisable as Stern. Copious amounts of blood bars? Sue Russell investigates indicated that someone was very dead. Swiss police are determinedly tight-lipped, yet lurid details, many a large security staff. Stern, a weapons collector, had taken to carrying a in in 2003 for running Europe’s largest prostitution ring. Yet unconfirmed, soon hit the Geneva press. Indeed, Stern had been found gun. The Rhodia litigation seemed to have him rattled. another possible Eastern European connection: MacDonald recruited dead in a condom-like bodysuit absent any openings for the eyes, nose Stern was born into a Jewish banking family ensconced in France for girls from the Ukraine. or mouth. He’d been shot four times; two bullets to the head. generations. He left a $763 million fortune. A pampered youth with a per- Yet there was more to Cecile than kink on call. Columnist Taki speaks His alarm system and security cameras were switched off. With no sonal valet, he was a below-par student. Yet, at age 22, he joined his family’s warmly of her, revealing her artistic ambitions and love of sculpting and sign of a struggle or forced entry, he likely knew his killer. Tongues floundering Banque Stern with a mandate to save it, and save it he did. painting. She also really loved Stern. They went on big-game hunting wagged, guessing it was either a pre-meditated assassination with a pos- He was incredibly close to his three children and his former wife, trips together and weekended in Venice and New York. sible Russian Mafia connection, or he was murdered by a partner in Beatrice, a French art historian. They wed in 1984 and divorced in Some say Stern was dependent upon Cecile, depressed that she wouldn’t sado-masochistic activities. 1998. Beatrice’s father was Michel David-Weill, head of the French leave her husband and threatened to end their affair. Conversely, her law- Supposedly, Stern had made investments in Russia, and he’d recent- merchant bank Lazard Freres & Co. yers describe her as the “battered victim of an unimaginable, psychological ly met with several Russian businessmen. Then again, he’d also lost a Stern joined Lazard Freres in 1992 and was the heir apparent until a rift manipulation.” To Taki, she’s a sexual adventuress but also a vulnerable, tragic US$89 million investment in Rhodia, a French chemical company. with his father-in-law. He used his handsome pay-off to start Investments figure, and a victim of Stern’s promises made but not delivered. Alleging that they misrepresented corporate finances, he was embroiled Real Returns (IRR). He was an expert in off-shore tax avoidance strate- “She’s obviously not right in the head,” he says of her departure for in ugly litigation with the company. gies. When he died, he also was chairman of Delta, a British engineering Australia soon after the murder. “She’s always been a lost soul, very artis- Initially, police were wondering whether the latex bodysuit could be company, and a director of Altadis, a Spanish tobacco company. tic in one way, and very tortured in another.” If she did kill Stern, he a red herring used to cover a professional hit. Yet it seemed a convo- -born Edmond Safra also hailed from one of the world’s doubts it was premeditated. They might well have argued about Stern luted, atypical set-up. The Baroness, a famed New York dominatrix who wealthiest Jewish banking families. He joined the family business at 16. freezing her gift money during a tryst that night. If Stern’s death was a designs customised latex bodywear, confirms it. She says that getting a When he died, he was president and managing director of the Republic crime passionel, Cecile faces a maximum sentence of 10 years. skin-tight latex costume on someone uncooperative, let alone dead, National Bank of New York. Her flight to Australia could indicate panic, guilt, emotional imbal- would be very tough if not impossible. In the previous year or two, he’d collaborated with the FBI to monitor ance, or a combination thereof. Reportedly, Cecile posted a parcel con- Generally, people cover themselves in a water-based lube before don- Russian international money-laundering. Inevitably, gossip swirled about a taining the clothes she wore that fateful night back to relatives in the ning such attire and, she says, “Depending on the degree of tightness possible Russian connection. Had Safra perhaps put a target on his back? States. But within days, she’d returned to . and how many zips there are, you struggle or slide in.” It’s just too In another curious twist, Stern and Safra’s paths intersected. Stern’s After she was interrogated and put under surveillance, it didn’t take strange to imagine mobster types grappling with latex and lube. business partner, American banker Jeffrey Keil, was once president of long for her to confess to killing Stern and throwing the gun into Lake The Baroness explains that bodysuits without facial openings height- Safra’s Corporation. Stern and Keil helped broker Geneva. Yet not everyone was ready to accept her confession at face en pleasure for some: “And when you’re as rich as this man, you can the acquisition of Safra’s bank by the London-based HSBC for $9.9 value. Many still suspect that others were also involved in Stern’s death. pretty much have whatever you want. Breathing tubes, eye, nose, mouth billion, a deal finalised in the weeks following Safra’s death. In March, the investigating judge, Michel-Alexander Graber, described and ear openings are all optional design details.” By any measure, it was Yet Safra and Stern were wildly different. At 50, Stern was a karate her motive as “in the shadows.” Regarding whether she could have been an inglorious death. black belt and passionate poker player with a kinky secret sex life. Safra, hired to kill, he said: “I cannot exclude the possibility of a contract Edouard Stern’s and Edmond Safra’s murders are both myster- ies wrapped in conundrums. Buried less than 100 yards apart in the same Jewish cemetery, they had more in common than their Above: Ted Maher’s lawyer Michael Griffith stands outside the Monaco courthouse Below: Safra’s nurse, Ted Maher on trial for his employer’s murder “I cannot exclude the possibility of a contract killing at this stage but this is not wealth, Geneva residences, and initials. Opposite page: ’s lawyer Marc Bonnant, left, speaks with Nobel laureate and Holocaust historian Elie Wiesel as they walk to the Israeli Both were highly secretive men. Both feared for their lives for reasons cemetery for Edmond Safra’s funeral in Veyrier, Switzerland the line of inquiry that we are concentrating on,” says investigating judge Graber not entirely clear. Both had enemies aplenty. Safra was paranoid and had

68, had advanced Parkinson’s disease. Eight nurses provided around the clock care. While Safra was tough in business but generally well liked, Stern was roundly loathed. He was rude and abrasive with a quick temper, yet a charismatic and powerful figure to many. International social diarist Taki Theodoracopulos does not disguise his disdain. “[Stern] was never powerful! A big bullshitter,” he says crossly. “All he did was lose big money. The idea that he was some kind of wizard is crap. He was a very unpleasant character.” As Stern’s murder rocked Geneva, more titillating (but unveri- fied) details kept emerging. One had Stern wearing a dildo with the latex suit. Suddenly, Cecile Brossard, 36, Stern’s attractive, blonde dominatrix/mistress of four years, confessed to shooting him. Security camera footage showed Cecile was the last and only person to visit Stern’s apartment the night he died. If guilty, her likely motive was money. In January, Stern gave her $1 million. Yet he froze the account a few days before he died, upset when he couldn’t locate her. Cecile and her herbalist husband Xavier Gillet reportedly had financial troubles. A money squabble with Stern could have sent her over the edge emotionally. A former waitress, Cecile had also worked as a call girl and was thought to have earned $1,300 an hour on notorious English madam Margaret MacDonald’s roster. MacDonald was imprisoned killing at this stage but this is not the line of inquiry that we are con- Russian guy or Italian guy has been deported.” centrating on.” Safra and Torrente died of asphyxiation, trapped in the steel-doored As for Beatrice, she and her children, Henri, Louis and Mathilde, now safe room where they barricaded themselves at the urging of male nurse live in New York where she works at Sotheby’s. But no miles can distance Ted Maher who told them that two hooded intruders had broken in. them from the embarrassingly tawdry details surrounding Edouard’s death. Maher, now 47, was a pediatric nurse and former Green Beret com- Taki says that Beatrice is a very woman: “She’s very shy, very sort mando from Stormville, New York. of nondescript. If she walks into a room she’s rather self-effacing. Quite The only living witness, he staggered down into the building’s lobby, intelligent and very polite.” his thigh bleeding and a knife sticking out of his stomach, and collapsed, “Beatrice was still in love with Stern,” notes author and Vanity Fair nearly passing out. He told the concierge that during a scuffle with two diarist , who feels enormous sympathy for the fam- knife-wielding intruders, one had slashed and stabbed him. He’d given ily: “It can be awfully hard. They’ve still got a trial coming – and that’s Safra his cell phone, and after Safra told him to sound the alarm, he lit going to be a racy trial.” toilet tissue in a wastebasket to trigger the smoke alarm. Meanwhile, mystery and unanswered questions still surround the six- Desperate SOS phone calls went out from the misnamed saferoom. Safra year old murder of Edmond Safra and Vivian Torrente, 52, the popular rang his wife in her wing of the vast apartment, instructing her to seal her nurse who died with him on December 3, 1999. bedroom doors to keep out the smoke. Other calls were made at 5:20, 5:30 Stupendously wealthy Safra and his wife Lily had palatial homes in and 6:15 am. The final call from the death room ended at 6:30 am. New York, London and Geneva, plus La Leopolda, their fabulous villa in Fearing armed intruders inside, police moved very cautiously. Many Villefranche-sur-Mer, visited by luminaries like Frank Sinatra, Christina headed back to the police station for riot gear and automated weapons. Onassis and more recently, Mrs Safra’s friend Elton John. It seemed chaotic. Edmond died in the couple’s 20 room, $5.9 million split-level pent- It’s hard to fathom, but while the fire raged, neither police nor fire- house atop Monaco’s glamorous Belle Epoque building overlooking the men got inside for over two hours; too late for Safra and Torrente. Police private yacht-filled harbour. and firemen had begged Safra to come out but he refused, sure he would The principality is a tax haven and somewhat tatty jetsetters’ paradise be killed and too terrified to move. Lily Safra, long nicknamed the with more police per capita than anywhere in the world and omnipres- Gilded Lily for her extravagance, escaped unharmed. ent security cameras. Smaller than Manhattan’s Central Park and with Despite Safra’s safety obsession, not one of his 11 armed body- just 6,000 citizens, it supposedly has $75 billion in its banks and 400,000 guards was present. It’s not clear if their absence had Mr Safra’s blessing. bank accounts. Reportedly, Lily Safra sent them to La Leopolda weeks earlier believing “Now where does all this money come from, and what sort of money security wasn’t needed at the apartment, given Monaco’s safety record. is it?” journalist Patrick Middleton of France’s Riviera-Reporter asks. The apartment’s alarm system didn’t work that night and relevant foot- “Every so often a scandal sort of boils over and you hear that some age from closed circuit security cameras was somehow missing.

Above: Chief prosecutor in the Safra case Daniel Serdet dismisses all the Both were highly secretive men. Both feared for their lives for conspiracy theories Below right: Cecile Brossard, centre, Stern’s mistress of four years, enjoys a night out in Paris two weeks before his murder. She was the last person to visit Stern’s apartment the night he died Opposite page: US reasons not entirely clear. Both had enemies aplenty Vogue editor Anna Wintour and international social diarist Taki Theodoracopulos

Chief bodyguard, Samuel “Schmulik” Cohen, a $1,000-a-day former Billy Hayes, who was thrown in a Turkish prison for drug smug- Mossad agent, rushed to the building once he got word of the fire. He gling and became the subject of the film Midnight Express. had the key to the saferoom – given to him by Lily Safra – but was Heidi and Ted Maher met while nursing students, married in 1993 mistakenly identified as an attacker by Monaco’s police commissioner, and had three children. Ted’s $600-a-day dream job with Safra sepa- barred from going in and handcuffed. More time wasted. rated them, but it was temporary and meant to benefit the family. The commissioner, reports Roger-Louis Bianchini in his book, 13 Immediately after they heard of the fire and learned Ted was wounded, Mysteres de la Cote (13 Mysteries of the Riviera), was later transferred out Heidi and her brother flew out to be at his side. By the time they of the Monaco police force due to alleged ties to the Russian Mafia. arrived, three days after Safra died, Ted was in custody. “Schmulik was a wonderful man,” says Dominick Dunne. “He cried Heidi’s account of that day is that a Safra chauffeur took them to the on the stand for love of Safra, that he couldn’t have saved this man.” police station, where she was interrogated like a criminal. Then, when The absence of any burglary in Safra’s apartment lent weight to spec- they were finally allowed outside for a breath of air, a small black car ulation that it might have been a contract killing. Patrick Middleton says sped up and three armed men in black leapt out and grabbed her and the Russian Mafia’s presence in Monaco is no great secret. “There’s no her brother. They took them to the hotel where Maher lived and while doubt about it, they are very active here – and very discreet.” He likens the men ransacked his room, made them surrender their passports. Sure Monaco to a police state given that phone calls are routinely and openly that Maher was being framed, Heidi feared for her life. Only later did bugged, yet feels nothing sinister was at play that night. she learn that the men were police officers. “It’s easy to see it as a conspiracy,” he says, “but if you know Monaco Maher claimed that he was shown Heidi’s passport and told she as a place with an extraordinary amount of incompetence and infight- wouldn’t be allowed to return to their children unless he changed his ing, no one really wanted to take the initiative here. I think they were story. Fearful for her safety, he complied. That’s the reason he gives for also terrified.” confessing to police that he lied when he told his boss of five months “They [police] acted like a bunch of Keystone Cops,” says Michael they were under attack, that he stabbed himself for effect and that he Griffith, the international lawyer in charge of nurse Maher’s case. started what was intended to be a tiny fire. This cockeyed plot was sup- Griffith is famous for representing Americans overseas. Most notably, posedly meant to get Safra to see him as a hero. police and “try desperately to go and savehusband.”and her go to and desperately police “try the call than other anything Safra’s did widowthat suggestion any ous evisionnewsshow tel US safe the 2003,on the February In explain. of to declined out has She room? husband petrified her coaxed successfully Safra Lily for Ted?’”he recalls. “I’vegot nothing to go on, though.” whensaid,I ‘Doyou think there’s any chance there is$5 million waiting by someone to do what he did. “The wife and sister both were so horrified guy. fall a of kind some been have could and alone haveacted not might he that belief the towards leans still he Nevertheless, man. troubled a Ted recognised as Dunne ing,it.”sleep,’ me about didn’t let ‘They icky something was there and sawMaher in court and just felt in his gut that something was not right. Tedwas being railroaded. However, Dunne’s faithcrumbled oncefast he porter for years. Another early ally was Dominick Dunne who also thought himself.”believesstabbed to he already paying him $175,000. Nobody here in Monaco that I’ve spoken Safra’s motive? Maher’s be asking,would innocence, “What complete Maher’s for case the argues still bars. He behind years three he’d spent Maher’shavethrownshould been confession out. on the donkey and hope you get a good one,” says who Griffith thought had no murderprior experience.trial “You have to do it like pin the tail motives.” true his mystery which remains is what was going on in his head and what were deaths. only the The for responsible exclusively was here. Maher tery theories,saying:conspiracy the all dismissed quickly mysno is “There retracts.writes,nowfully butnor speaks So many questions, so many loose ends. A very big one:ends.hadn’t whybig loose very many questions, A so many So Heremembers broaching the possibility that Tedcould have been paid trial,” the of day second recalls, “The Dunne complain in came “he AlthoughHeidi and Tedare now divorcing, she was his staunchest sup time which by trial his to prior just help his Maher offered Griffith list, Consulate the American lawyer, from plucked original Maher’s Serdet Daniel prosecutor however,hand, chief in confession With Incredibly, he signed a confession in written French, which he neither 48 Hours 48 ,lawyer,her MarcBonnant, scandal called - - - - - the Edmond J Safra Philanthropic Foundation, Philanthropic as she’sknown Safra become J Edmond the fortune.Edmond’s billion Heading of $5.5 most widows,inherited she later.aliveyears speculation six and keepgossip that questions saying, done.”been “Justicehas Maher, then 44, received a 10 year sentence. Lily Safra issued a statement place.”inhabited an in byarson deaths “causing 3,December On 2002, accident.” of guilty Yethim found members threejury and threejudges employer best saying, terrible a always be and “What’s will is happened you’reand apartment.”ledge Safra the on in there’sledge. a shed says,utility the fromknee yourYou “And put just shed,utility a of he top the workto lattice some up metres of couple a haveclimbed apartment. could Safra They the into havebroken could her.” grabbing him likesee you’recan I Christ.But for dying sit there, Iwould getupandunlock thatdoor!Give meabreak. It’s not able,given thelife anddeath drama taking place inthesaferoom. in any number of ways. Dominick Dunne thinks the blood is understand Prosecutors had no explanations but the male DNA could have gotSafra’s fingernails.there under found was man unknown an from DNA and blaze? huge a such puzzle:wastebasketbecome little fire a howdid anyone. Another hurt to meant never he that insisted always has but fire small a setting neverdenied has Maher intruders. armed of tale his and Maher on solely delay fatal the for blame the lay Bonnant and He emergency wereservices negligent and responsiblepartly for the deaths. And yet, pieces of the puzzle still don’t quite fit. It’s all the niggling niggling fit.the It’s all quite don’t still puzzle the of yet, And pieces his as Safra described tearfully Maher trial, at verdict the Awaiting prosecutionthe While wasit said impossible, intruders insists Griffith “Look,”says,he wereI “if to going is [Safra] roomand that Vivianin Patches of Safra’s blood were found on nurse Torrente’s bra and panties, Monaco’s chief prosecutor Serdet also rejected the idea that Monaco’s But Lily Safra’s life has moved on. One of the world’s wealthiest wealthiest world’s the of One on. moved has life Safra’s Lily But through their titanium cell bars bars cell titanium their through Below: Below: Maher and his cellmate escaped from Monaco’s prison by sawing by prison Monaco’s from escaped cellmate his and Maher with the FBI to monitor Russian international money-laundering international Russian monitor to FBI the with Far left: Far Lily Safra is one of the world's wealthiest widows wealthiest world's the of one is Safra Lily Opposite page: Opposite Safra, pictured, was collaborating was pictured, Safra, -

Photography AFP; AP; A-Link/Sipa Press; Getty Images; Reuters; Rex/Features ten a good deal of his Prince’shis of deal good work.a Trust ten charity Palace. Buckingham at She’s hosted underwrit Camilla and he dinner private a at Charles Prince to next sat she London, in position social set.” funding London’s her of super-rich Sealing dame the grand “new Dominick Dunne! I almost fainted! I always knew I’ve been followed,I’vealways knew been I fainted! almost I Dunne! Dominick “and one of the two said they had conducted Lily Safra’s investigation of interviewed.had theyCondit’stwo men concerning from stunning something talked, heard lawyers Dunne’srepresentative Condit. their Gary when congressman But former waterwith hot into his crossingher.it.of pulped bookshelveswary and veryPeople seem fromaction. book legal yanked the threatened promptly publisher The Colin’s believedLady novel Safra Edmond 1976.wedhappymatch. in wasa and It Lily Bendahan, Samuel businessman to marriage third million.fleeting a $230 After estimated an her left suicide His himself. shot Monteverde, “Freddy” owner,Alfredo business electrical band, Lily’swith roadaccident hus young1989 grandchild.second a Her in Cohen. Mario manufacturer clothing Tragically,died Claudio son their “They said they’d been trained in intelligence in ,” in intelligence in they’dsays, said trained Dunne “They been in wrote he Something Dunne. Dominick surprise wouldn’t This Lily Campbell. Colin woman.Lady Ask formidable a is 67,Lily At husband, first her with children three had she birth, by Brazilian A VanityFair journal in 2002 on an entirely unrelated matter got him got matter unrelatedentirely an on 2002 in journal “Wheredoes all this money come from, and what Empress Bianca Empress sortof money is it? was based on her and and her on based was - - ”questions Middleton should all of a sudden have people saying that they conducted Lily Lily conducted they Safra’s that investigationme.” of saying people have sudden a of congressman all minor should this that stunning was It feeling. that had just I Edmond Safra’s grizzly demise will forever remain a puzzle. forever puzzle.will a remaindemise Safra’s Edmond grizzly ques many EdouardStern’s surrounding tions death. about muchthat up seems it But clear could trial Cecile’s Geneva. in bars behind sits idea.that precisely float will Maher have anyway.” would person of unreliablekind an such them to seemed Maher thought have would “I Middleton. Patrick says party.Russian ous a puppet for an organisation’s hit on Safra, or a pawn used by a mysteri organisation.” table veri a And in impressive. accomplice an was he that already possibility the are raise to sufficient alone acted Maher Ted which to accord ing theory official the undermining elements the investigation, neverout.initially that’scame told and guy it.” fall the got They can’t justify an escape but his motive in escaping is that the that story he consistent.”and percent.insistent 100 been him has He believe I if know don’t I percent? 100 him believe story.client’s I Do Friday.”workthat But, course,of did. he to supposed not was he behold, and out.Lo him dumped they Then interfere.’ not do happen, told,to was be,going ‘You something’s will Safra residence,” says Griffith. “He said he wasn’t working on Friday and cooperate.not did he if family his to wouldhappen something school.leavingchildrentheir his workand wasthreatthat implicit The leaving wife his of photographs him showed and hour an for around van.a strollinto a dragged and during unknowndroveHis captors him met:they since Twoever fire, the beforedays story this to Ted gunpoint at stuck abducted was has Maher says Griffith but yarn a of dropper jaw- Hollywood-like fire. a It’s the to up led that events about truth folly.dayof his for bars yearbehind extra an escape. the get for could again He conviction, trial now yetstand must Nice,away. in room km 24 murder his on parole He’s for noweligible embarrassment. tic gigan a was episode bags? The trash and tools guards? the get they jail did How the were bags. Where trash from fashioned rope a with wall a down scaled and bars cell titanium their through prison. sawed They deluxe Monaco’s from escaped cellmate his and TedMaher letters.”these of go let to going me, to son,my lawyer, my everhappens thing agent,they’remyknow says, content,he any their revealing“If of intention no has he While Meanwhile, Maher sits behind bars in Monaco, and Cecile Brossard Monaco,Cecile in and bars behind sits Meanwhile, Maher Nevertheless, at his still unscheduled escape trial, believesGriffith that things,” doing ways of other find could Russians the sure quite “I’m as Maher of swallow idea to hard Yetthe it find doubtless will many my in point this “At book: new his in wrote Bianchini Author cover-up. of kind some “You there’sbeen that believe does Griffith skepticism,says, Sensing Griffith youmy “Now telling look, just I’m the at Friday on happen to going was something that told was “He reveal the and court in bombshell a drop will client his says Griffith hotel a in alone escape, his after hours seven just snagged Ted was conviction, his after yet.over Shortly isn’t certainly saga Safra The Dunne says letters. he has in handwritten his possession 16 important ■ ------