Ted Maher
Encyclopedia
Theodore Maher is an American
registered nurse
(an ex-Green Beret) convicted of arson
in a 1999 fire that killed Edmond Safra and a nurse, Vivian Torrente, at Safra’s penthouse apartment in Monaco
. In October 2007 Maher was released after serving eight years in jail. In television interviews after release, he has maintained his innocence.
and Pace University
. A brief marriage produced a son, Chris, now 18. While studying at the Dutchess County Community College Maher met his third wife, Heidi Wustrau. The couple lost contact for two years but started dating in 1991 while both attended Pace University and worked at Columbia Medical Center
of New York Presbyterian Hospital
. They wed on December 12, 1993 and the marriage produced two more children, Ian, 11, and Amber, 9.
The family made their home in Stormville, N.Y., about 70 miles north of Manhattan.
While working as a registered nurse at the neonatal unit at the Columbia Medical Center, Maher developed film from a camera he found left behind in a discharged patient's room. The camera's owners, Laura and Harry Slatkin, were grateful to retrieve the first photographs of their newborn twins. Harry Slatkin offered Ted the "job of a lifetime." Shortly thereafter Maher interviewed with the personal assistant to Edmond Safra
, a banker and billionaire based in Monaco who required private nursing care for Parkinson's
and other ailments."
According to Heidi Maher, the Safras liked that Ted was an ex-Green Beret and thought he could be both a bodyguard and a nurse. The Safras offered Ted Maher a contract at $600 per day, more money than he had ever made, but he’d have to leave for Monaco right away. With a hospital strike looming and legal bills mounting from a visitation battle with his ex-wife regarding his oldest son, Maher ultimately accepted the job in early August.
, had Parkinson's disease
and required constant care.
On Dec 3rd 1999, Maher was scheduled at the last minute to work the overnight shift caring for Safra with Vivian Torrente (one of eight nurses who looked after Safra) at Safra's Monaco penthouse at La Belle Epoque, a four-story bank and two-story flat at 17 Avenue D'Ostende. Here is the chronology of events that took place that night:
Immediately after his arrest Maher claimed two intruders had gained access to the apartment and that he had fought them off, receiving stab wounds. He had informed the other nurse, Vivian Torrente, of the assailants and had given her his cell phone to call for help. He ordered her to take Edmond Safra into the secure dressing room while he went to the nearby nursing station, where he lit toilet paper in a trash basket to set off a smoke alarm, with the intention of alerting outside people that there was a problem. Maher then made his way, bleeding and feeling faint, downstairs to the lobby of the building to get help. But while police and firemen got to the building, they didn’t get to Edmond Safra and Vivian Torrente until it was too late.
A few days later on December 7, Monaco's chief prosecutor, Daniel Serdet, announced that Maher had confessed to starting the fire "to draw attention to himself" as he was "jealous" of Mr. Safra's seven other nurses. In addition, his stab wounds had been self-inflicted. Maher had slashed himself twice with his own switchblade - once in the thigh and once in the stomach - to corroborate his story about the intruders. On December 6 Safra was buried in Geneva
.
, a tiny Mediterranean principality
better known for sumptuous casinos, Formula One
racing and tax breaks that attract the world's rich and famous. The riviera’s
leading newspaper, Nice Matin, dubbed it Monaco's "Trial of the Century". During his trial, Maher confessed to setting the blaze but said he never expected the fire to rage out of control and that the fire was part of a bizarre plan to ingratiate himself with Safra. Maher testified that he’d started the blaze in a small wastebasket, expecting it to set off a fire alarm that would bring help and allow him to reap the credit for saving his employer.
There had also been friction between himself and Sonia Herkrath, Safra’s head nurse. Though not technically Maher's boss, Herkrath had control of the nurses' work schedule and could make their lives difficult if she didn't like them. And she didn't like Maher, whom she considered just another "flavor of the month," who had gotten into Safra's good graces by returning a camera a friend forgot in New York six months earlier. Herkrath was allegedly responsible for the departure of 17 other nurses in the previous 16 months, and Maher did not want to become number 18. He believed she was intentionally providing him with wrong information, causing him to make mistakes that had not gone unnoticed, and she frequently altered his scheduled between day and night shifts with little or no notice.
Fearing the loss of his well-paid job, just six weeks after arriving in Monaco, Maher hatched the idea of setting the fire to ingratiate himself with his boss and earn a promotion. The prosecution described how Maher cut himself with a knife and then set a fire in a wastepaper basket. He called for rescue and told authorities that two masked intruders were in the apartment. But rather than extinguish the fire, Maher let it spread, the prosecution charged, leading to the two deaths. Prosecutors also said that his tale about intruders delayed the work of firefighters.
American lawyer Michael Griffith, who had previously represented Billy Hayes - an American whose escape from a Turkish jail inspired the motion picture "Midnight Express
" - volunteered to assist with Ted Maher’s defense. Griffith based their defense on the notion that, whilst Ted did set the fire, he never intended to harm anyone. “It was a stupid, most insane thing a human being could do,” says Griffith. “He 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.” Maher maintained that the deaths of Safra and Torrente would have been averted if police had not blocked firefighters from launching a rescue attempt until long after Maher was rushed to a hospital. Lawyers for Safra's widow, Lily
, argued Maher should be judged for his actions, not his intentions.
In December 2002 Maher was convicted in the arson deaths of Edmond Safra and Vivian Torrente and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The prosecution had requested 12 years in prison for Maher. The charges carried a maximum penalty of life in prison. "He directly caused the deaths of Mrs. Torrente and Mr. Safra," said head prosecutor Daniel Serdet. "He trapped the victims."
On the final day of his trial Maher called Safra "the best employer I ever had," and said he did not mean to cause his death or the death of the other nurse. "What's happened is and always will be a terrible accident", reiterating earlier testimony, in the hours before the verdict. Maher's wife was in court, as was Safra's widow
.
, where he holed up in a hotel and made telephone contact with people in the US, including his wife, his lawyer and his priest; they gave him up to the police, who apprehended him seven hours later.
Parallels were drawn between Maher's escape and the one carried out by Billy Hayes
, a previous client of Griffith, who had also made a daring escape while being held in an overseas prison
in 1975. In Hayes's case, he was facing life in prison for possession of hashish
, and, risking getting shot on sight, he escaped from a Turkish prison and made his way to Greece and freedom.
, Maher maintained his pretrial statements were coerced, threats were made against his family by authorities, and to this day maintains his innocence. The late Dominick Dunne
did comprehensive investigations on the case for courtroom television and was not completely convinced that Ted Maher was responsible for Safra’s death. Dunne's doubt centered on the fact that it took two and half hours for firefighters to reach Safra and his nurse. How so, wondered Dunne, especially when Edmond Safra’s wife Lily (who was in her bedroom on the other end of the apartment) was somehow able to get out? These two holes in the facts surrounding the case did not make any sense to Dunne.
for billions. He was a jet-setter who kept company with statesmen like Shimon Peres
, the former prime minister of Israel. But his business made him some potent enemies as well. In 1998 his Republic Bank made a report to the F.B.I
. that began an investigation into the possibility of a vast Russian money laundering that came to focus on the Bank of New York
and ultimately helped break a $6bn crime ring.
The increasingly security conscious Safra employed a small army of guards, said to be trained in Israel by intelligence units
. None of his security team were, however, on duty on the night of the fire, which both enabled Maher to carry out the arson attack and hampered police and firefighters' efforts to gain access to his heavily fortified penthouse. Upon arrest, Maher initially fabricated the story that two intruders had penetrated the apartment and that he had fought them off, receiving stab wounds. This cover story, combined with Safra's involvements with the F.B.I., quickly led to rumours that the incident had been a well-executed Russian mob
hit, leaving Maher as the patsy
.
Once the trial was underway, however, Maher's own testimony claimed that he had acted alone, motivated by self-interest and paranoia and specifically out of fear of losing his highly rewarding job. This claim was later repudiated, and Maher alleged he was forced to confess during his initial hospitalization.
Allegations in 2007 by Judge Jean-Christophe Hullin that the outcome of the trial itself had been manipulated or fixed through collusion between Hullin, chief investigative judge on the case, along with Monaco's chief prosecutor and a member of Maher's state-appointed defence team remain unresolved.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
registered nurse
Registered nurse
A registered nurse is a nurse who has graduated from a nursing program at a university or college and has passed a national licensing exam. A registered nurse helps individuals, families, and groups to achieve health and prevent disease...
(an ex-Green Beret) convicted of arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
in a 1999 fire that killed Edmond Safra and a nurse, Vivian Torrente, at Safra’s penthouse apartment in Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
. In October 2007 Maher was released after serving eight years in jail. In television interviews after release, he has maintained his innocence.
Biography
Ted Maher was born in Maine and lived there and in California before his family settled in Upstate New York when he was 12. After serving a stint in the U.S. Army in the mid-1970s, the former Green Beret received nursing degrees from Dutchess County Community CollegeDutchess Community College
Dutchess Community College is one of 30 community colleges within the State University of New York system . The College, located in Dutchess County, is situated on on a hill above Poughkeepsie, New York...
and Pace University
Pace University
Pace University is an American private, co-educational, and comprehensive multi-campus university in the New York metropolitan area with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York.-Programs:...
. A brief marriage produced a son, Chris, now 18. While studying at the Dutchess County Community College Maher met his third wife, Heidi Wustrau. The couple lost contact for two years but started dating in 1991 while both attended Pace University and worked at Columbia Medical Center
Columbia University Medical Center
Columbia University Medical Center is an academic medical center that includes Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, College of Dental Medicine, School of Nursing and Mailman School of Public Health...
of New York Presbyterian Hospital
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital is a prominent university hospital in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools: Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons and Cornell University's Weill Medical College. It is composed of two distinct medical centers, Columbia...
. They wed on December 12, 1993 and the marriage produced two more children, Ian, 11, and Amber, 9.
The family made their home in Stormville, N.Y., about 70 miles north of Manhattan.
While working as a registered nurse at the neonatal unit at the Columbia Medical Center, Maher developed film from a camera he found left behind in a discharged patient's room. The camera's owners, Laura and Harry Slatkin, were grateful to retrieve the first photographs of their newborn twins. Harry Slatkin offered Ted the "job of a lifetime." Shortly thereafter Maher interviewed with the personal assistant to Edmond Safra
Edmond Safra
Edmond J. Safra was a Jewish Brazilian-naturalized, Lebanese banker who continued the family tradition of banking in Lebanon, Brazil and Switzerland. He married Lily Watkins. He died in a fire that attracted wide media interest and was judicially determined to be due to arson.-Life of Edmond...
, a banker and billionaire based in Monaco who required private nursing care for Parkinson's
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
and other ailments."
According to Heidi Maher, the Safras liked that Ted was an ex-Green Beret and thought he could be both a bodyguard and a nurse. The Safras offered Ted Maher a contract at $600 per day, more money than he had ever made, but he’d have to leave for Monaco right away. With a hospital strike looming and legal bills mounting from a visitation battle with his ex-wife regarding his oldest son, Maher ultimately accepted the job in early August.
Edmond Safra's death
Safra, the 67-year-old founder and principal stock owner of the Republic National Bank of New YorkRepublic New York
Republic New York Corporation was the holding company for the Republic National Bank of New York and the Safra Republic Bank. The company was controlled by billionaire Edmond Safra, who was killed in a fire in his Monte Carlo penthouse apartment by his nurse Ted Maher...
, had Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
and required constant care.
On Dec 3rd 1999, Maher was scheduled at the last minute to work the overnight shift caring for Safra with Vivian Torrente (one of eight nurses who looked after Safra) at Safra's Monaco penthouse at La Belle Epoque, a four-story bank and two-story flat at 17 Avenue D'Ostende. Here is the chronology of events that took place that night:
- 4.49 a.m. Monitoring station detects a Fire alarm from Safra’s apartment.
- 5:00 a.m. Dialing the cellphone Maher gave her, Torrente calls head nurse Sonia Casiano from Safra's dressing room to ask her to call police. She informs Casiano that Maher is injured. Five more calls are made by Torrente during the next 90 minutes.
- 5:12 a.m. The first police officers arrive in the lobby of the building. Police begin organizing a floor by floor search for intruders.
- 5:20 a.m. Maher is transported to Princess Grace HospitalThe Princess Grace Hospital Centre-History:By 1818 there were no hospitals or charitable institution in Monaco, the Prince Honoré V had the idea of building a modern hospital in the west part of Monaco, in the district of The Salines....
for treatment of stab wounds. - 5:24 a.m. Passers by and neighbours begin flooding emergency phone lines with reports of seeing smoke from the building.
- 5:30 a.m. Torrente makes fourth call to Casiano from the cellphone. She does not mention any smoke. Safra appears calm but requests police intervention.
- 6:15 a.m. Firefighters begin battling the blaze.
- 6:30 a.m. Torrente, losing consciousness, makes her sixth and final call from the cellphone. Safra is heard coughing in the background.
- 7:45 a.m. Firefighters gain access to the locked dressing room on the top floor of the penthouse and discover the bodies of Edmond Safra and Vivian Torrente.
Immediately after his arrest Maher claimed two intruders had gained access to the apartment and that he had fought them off, receiving stab wounds. He had informed the other nurse, Vivian Torrente, of the assailants and had given her his cell phone to call for help. He ordered her to take Edmond Safra into the secure dressing room while he went to the nearby nursing station, where he lit toilet paper in a trash basket to set off a smoke alarm, with the intention of alerting outside people that there was a problem. Maher then made his way, bleeding and feeling faint, downstairs to the lobby of the building to get help. But while police and firemen got to the building, they didn’t get to Edmond Safra and Vivian Torrente until it was too late.
A few days later on December 7, Monaco's chief prosecutor, Daniel Serdet, announced that Maher had confessed to starting the fire "to draw attention to himself" as he was "jealous" of Mr. Safra's seven other nurses. In addition, his stab wounds had been self-inflicted. Maher had slashed himself twice with his own switchblade - once in the thigh and once in the stomach - to corroborate his story about the intruders. On December 6 Safra was buried in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
.
Trial and conviction
The case was a sensation for MonacoMonaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
, a tiny Mediterranean principality
Principality
A principality is a monarchical feudatory or sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a monarch with the title of prince or princess, or by a monarch with another title within the generic use of the term prince....
better known for sumptuous casinos, Formula One
Monaco Grand Prix
The Monaco Grand Prix is a Formula One race held each year on the Circuit de Monaco. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigious automobile races in the world, alongside the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans...
racing and tax breaks that attract the world's rich and famous. The riviera’s
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
leading newspaper, Nice Matin, dubbed it Monaco's "Trial of the Century". During his trial, Maher confessed to setting the blaze but said he never expected the fire to rage out of control and that the fire was part of a bizarre plan to ingratiate himself with Safra. Maher testified that he’d started the blaze in a small wastebasket, expecting it to set off a fire alarm that would bring help and allow him to reap the credit for saving his employer.
There had also been friction between himself and Sonia Herkrath, Safra’s head nurse. Though not technically Maher's boss, Herkrath had control of the nurses' work schedule and could make their lives difficult if she didn't like them. And she didn't like Maher, whom she considered just another "flavor of the month," who had gotten into Safra's good graces by returning a camera a friend forgot in New York six months earlier. Herkrath was allegedly responsible for the departure of 17 other nurses in the previous 16 months, and Maher did not want to become number 18. He believed she was intentionally providing him with wrong information, causing him to make mistakes that had not gone unnoticed, and she frequently altered his scheduled between day and night shifts with little or no notice.
Fearing the loss of his well-paid job, just six weeks after arriving in Monaco, Maher hatched the idea of setting the fire to ingratiate himself with his boss and earn a promotion. The prosecution described how Maher cut himself with a knife and then set a fire in a wastepaper basket. He called for rescue and told authorities that two masked intruders were in the apartment. But rather than extinguish the fire, Maher let it spread, the prosecution charged, leading to the two deaths. Prosecutors also said that his tale about intruders delayed the work of firefighters.
American lawyer Michael Griffith, who had previously represented Billy Hayes - an American whose escape from a Turkish jail inspired the motion picture "Midnight Express
Midnight Express (film)
Released on October 6, 1978, the soundtrack to Midnight Express was composed by Italian synth-pioneer Giorgio Moroder. The score won the Academy Award for Best Original Score of 1978.Side A:#Chase – Giorgio Moroder...
" - volunteered to assist with Ted Maher’s defense. Griffith based their defense on the notion that, whilst Ted did set the fire, he never intended to harm anyone. “It was a stupid, most insane thing a human being could do,” says Griffith. “He 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.” Maher maintained that the deaths of Safra and Torrente would have been averted if police had not blocked firefighters from launching a rescue attempt until long after Maher was rushed to a hospital. Lawyers for Safra's widow, Lily
Lily Safra
Lily Safra is a Brazilian-Monegasque philanthropist and social figure who attained considerable wealth after four marriages. Her net worth is estimated at $1 billion, ranking her as the 701st richest person in the world according to Forbes in 2009...
, argued Maher should be judged for his actions, not his intentions.
In December 2002 Maher was convicted in the arson deaths of Edmond Safra and Vivian Torrente and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The prosecution had requested 12 years in prison for Maher. The charges carried a maximum penalty of life in prison. "He directly caused the deaths of Mrs. Torrente and Mr. Safra," said head prosecutor Daniel Serdet. "He trapped the victims."
On the final day of his trial Maher called Safra "the best employer I ever had," and said he did not mean to cause his death or the death of the other nurse. "What's happened is and always will be a terrible accident", reiterating earlier testimony, in the hours before the verdict. Maher's wife was in court, as was Safra's widow
Lily Safra
Lily Safra is a Brazilian-Monegasque philanthropist and social figure who attained considerable wealth after four marriages. Her net worth is estimated at $1 billion, ranking her as the 701st richest person in the world according to Forbes in 2009...
.
Jail break
Less than two months after being sentenced, on 22 January 2003 Ted Maher and his cellmate, an Italian awaiting trial in Monaco on charges stemming from a robbery, sawed through the bars on their cell, and then, using a rope made of black garbage bags, climbed out and escaped overnight. Maher made it 15 miles to NiceNice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, where he holed up in a hotel and made telephone contact with people in the US, including his wife, his lawyer and his priest; they gave him up to the police, who apprehended him seven hours later.
Parallels were drawn between Maher's escape and the one carried out by Billy Hayes
Billy Hayes (smuggler)
William "Billy" Hayes is an American writer, actor, convicted drug smuggler and director. He is best known for his autobiographical book Midnight Express, about his experiences in and escape from a Turkish prison after being convicted of smuggling hashish. He was one of hundreds of U.S...
, a previous client of Griffith, who had also made a daring escape while being held in an overseas prison
Midnight Express (film)
Released on October 6, 1978, the soundtrack to Midnight Express was composed by Italian synth-pioneer Giorgio Moroder. The score won the Academy Award for Best Original Score of 1978.Side A:#Chase – Giorgio Moroder...
in 1975. In Hayes's case, he was facing life in prison for possession of hashish
Hashish
Hashish is a cannabis preparation composed of compressed stalked resin glands, called trichomes, collected from the unfertilized buds of the cannabis plant. It contains the same active ingredients but in higher concentrations than unsifted buds or leaves...
, and, risking getting shot on sight, he escaped from a Turkish prison and made his way to Greece and freedom.
Release and Interview on Court TV
Maher served an additional nine months which were added to his sentence for escape. He was released in October 2007 and returned to the United States. In a series of interviews on American Court TVCourt TV
truTV is an American cable television network owned by Turner Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Time Warner. The network launched as Court TV in 1991, changing to truTV in 2008...
, Maher maintained his pretrial statements were coerced, threats were made against his family by authorities, and to this day maintains his innocence. The late Dominick Dunne
Dominick Dunne
Dominick John Dunne was an American writer and investigative journalist, whose subjects frequently hinged on the ways in which high society interacts with the judicial system...
did comprehensive investigations on the case for courtroom television and was not completely convinced that Ted Maher was responsible for Safra’s death. Dunne's doubt centered on the fact that it took two and half hours for firefighters to reach Safra and his nurse. How so, wondered Dunne, especially when Edmond Safra’s wife Lily (who was in her bedroom on the other end of the apartment) was somehow able to get out? These two holes in the facts surrounding the case did not make any sense to Dunne.
Controversy
Maher was imprisoned in Monaco for over two years before his trial began, resulting in a considerable amount of controversy and speculation surrounding the case. Days before his death, Safra finalized the sale of his Republic National Bank to HSBC Holdings plcHSBC
HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
for billions. He was a jet-setter who kept company with statesmen like Shimon Peres
Shimon Peres
GCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
, the former prime minister of Israel. But his business made him some potent enemies as well. In 1998 his Republic Bank made a report to the F.B.I
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
. that began an investigation into the possibility of a vast Russian money laundering that came to focus on the Bank of New York
Bank of New York
The Bank of New York was a global financial services company established in 1784 by the American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. It existed until its merger with the Mellon Financial Corporation on July 2, 2007...
and ultimately helped break a $6bn crime ring.
The increasingly security conscious Safra employed a small army of guards, said to be trained in Israel by intelligence units
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
. None of his security team were, however, on duty on the night of the fire, which both enabled Maher to carry out the arson attack and hampered police and firefighters' efforts to gain access to his heavily fortified penthouse. Upon arrest, Maher initially fabricated the story that two intruders had penetrated the apartment and that he had fought them off, receiving stab wounds. This cover story, combined with Safra's involvements with the F.B.I., quickly led to rumours that the incident had been a well-executed Russian mob
Russian Mafia
The Russian Mafia is a name applied to organized crime syndicates in Russia and Ukraine. The mafia in various countries take the name of the country, as for example the Ukrainian mafia....
hit, leaving Maher as the patsy
Scapegoat
Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals , individuals against groups , groups against individuals , and groups against groups Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any...
.
Once the trial was underway, however, Maher's own testimony claimed that he had acted alone, motivated by self-interest and paranoia and specifically out of fear of losing his highly rewarding job. This claim was later repudiated, and Maher alleged he was forced to confess during his initial hospitalization.
Allegations in 2007 by Judge Jean-Christophe Hullin that the outcome of the trial itself had been manipulated or fixed through collusion between Hullin, chief investigative judge on the case, along with Monaco's chief prosecutor and a member of Maher's state-appointed defence team remain unresolved.