Edmond Safra: the enigma documentary

The greatest and most permanent mystery has to do with death. How did a man with an estimated fortune of US$30 billion, paranoid about security, at the head of a trained army made up of 25 private guards and living in one of the safest places in the world (one police officer for every 100 inhabitants) manage to have an end that was both so inexplicable and prosaic?

Murder in Monacofrom Netflix, tries to unravel the mystery, sometimes separating, sometimes bringing together the three parts of this intricate story that has not yet been sufficiently clarified: the death of the Lebanese-Brazilian banker Edmond Safra and his nurse Vivian Torrente in the luxurious 900 square meter apartment in the Belle Époque building, in Monaco.

The facts: in the early hours of December 3, 1999, inside a maximum security apartment, Safra, aged 67, died of asphyxiation from smoke from a fire. In the ultra-protected place, he – who suffered from Parkinson’s disease – lived alongside his wife and a team of nurses and caregivers responsible for his well-being.

The conclusion offered by the Monaco court is that Edmond died as a result of arson, apparently caused accidentally by the person identified by the investigations as responsible: Ted Maher. The nurse, an American, former Green Berets and with a salary of more than US$10,000 a month, initially confessed to having started the fire by setting fire to papers placed in a trash can.

His intention was to put out the fire himself, carry out a heroic rescue and, thus, receive a substantial reward from the Safra.

In other words, the fact was simple, even easily overcome, only gaining the dimension it gained due to the fact that Edmond locked himself in a panic room and refused to open the door even for the firefighters. A false report that the apartment had been invaded by men linked to the Russian mafia further increased the mystery.

To these facts and suspicions is added a wonderful “cast”, which ranges from an upstart employee who competed with Ted Maher for the primacy of the boss’s sympathy to a mysterious Mister X, who gives his testimony in the dim light. There is also Maher’s lawyer, apparently well-intentioned and confident of his client’s innocence, and – even better – Maher’s former cellmate, an Italian conman and excellent storyteller.

But Ted Maher, interviewed for most of the documentary, disagrees with the official version. You judge yourself as the wrong man in the wrong place and consider yourself a victim. He was punished even when he tried to save Edmond, confronted the two Russian mafia invaders and, despite being stabbed by his opponents, managed to reach the elevator and alert security – however, not in time to avoid the greater tragedy.

It is the same Ted Maher who is responsible for putting the Russians in the plot, including making connections between Moscow oligarchs and members of the Royal Family of Monaco.

The mafia would be interested in taking revenge on Edmond, and that is why they would have carried out the plan. The conspiracy theory has little support other than the version defended by the nurse. It is the weakest link in this chain of events.

For the last 15 minutes of the documentary, the director still reserves a twist, impossible to tell without spoilers. You have to watch the film to understand, although it has little to do with the original crime.

With these two ends – Maher and the Russian mafia – defined, the documentary would have gained even more in action and mystery if it had focused on the figure of the enigmatic widow Lily Safra – or rather, Lily Watkins Cohen Monteverde Bendahan Safra.

Writer and biographer Fernando Morais classifies her as a fascinating character and guarantees that her story could be a book, film, documentary or miniseries.

Journalist Paulo Gasparotto, the main social columnist in Rio Grande do Sul – who knew her personally and wrote a short profile about her – said that Lily knew how to make the most of her exquisite choices. The fact is that the charming, seductive, in short, lovelyLily’s life had all the elements that make up a fabulous story: passions, tragedies, crimes, parties, luck, bad luck and money – a lot of money.

Daughter of an Englishman in the railway industry who came to work in Brazil and settled in Canoas in the early 1930s, Lily soon moved away from her roots and began to shine in other settings.

She was helped by an inimitable ability to attract rich suitors. Her first husband, still in her youth, was Mario Cohen, an Argentine industrialist linked to the textile sector. With him, Lily had three children: Claudio, Adriana and Eduardo. The marriage lasted less than a decade, but it served to insert Lily into bigger circles.

In the early 60s, she would marry Freddy Monteverde. Son of a Romanian war refugee, Freddy settled in Rio and created Ponto Frio, importing Cold Spot brand refrigerators from the United States to the Rio middle class. His icy empire spread quickly and, in addition to his success in business, Freddy circulated well in society, being friends with names like Salvador Dali and Orson Welles.

The marriage that seemed perfect would end in tragedy: Freddy was found dead at home. The cause: a deep depression that led him to an unusual suicide in which the suicide dies with two shots.

Lily inherited the empire with Carlos, the couple’s adopted son. After overcoming his grief, he resumed his social life even more intensely.

Interested in auctions, she met Edmond during an event in Paris. The two were competing for the same piece, but even though Lily lost, she won. Soon after, he would approach her and present her with the object of the dispute. From there to marriage was a step.

Lily, the documentary explains, was never well accepted by Edmond’s brothers. They are also not interviewed, but, according to a friend’s testimony, the two were always suspicious of the Brazilian woman’s intentions, including her involvement in the banker’s death.

Still, Lily and Edmond lived together for 23 years, after which tragedy once again struck. Mentioned by everyone involved, Lily only appears in Murder in Monaco in archive images. There is no record of any testimony from him about the crime. The film also does not stop at explaining how she – living in the apartment (in a separate room to Safra) – managed to escape the fire.

This and many other mysteries Lily took with her when she died in 2022, at the age of 87.

Márcio Pinheiro