Gilded Lily (20 page)

“Imagine how popular a good-looking boy like you would be with all those violent Negro criminals,” said one of the lawyers, who worked with Edmond.

Lily's lawyers were anxious that Bendahan sign off on any rights to Lily's estate. The legal proceedings dragged on for the next two years, during which time Bendahan nearly declared bankruptcy.

For Lily, life went on swimmingly. Despite protracted legal proceedings against her and Edmond in London and the messy separation from Bendahan, Lily emerged triumphant. That year, she was named one of the best-dressed women in London society.

Bendahan demanded the payment of the decorating bills. But Edmond wanted revenge and insisted upon proceeding, even as his lawyers must have told him he had a weak case against Bendahan, trying to nail him for attempted extortion. When Edmond finally did lose the case, he went on to appeal. The case was eventually dismissed by a panel of five judges.

In the meantime, Lily applied for a divorce in Reno, Nevada. During the proceedings, she made a request to the presiding judge that she not be present in the courtroom with her soon-to-be ex-husband.

Lily and her third husband appeared separately, although their paths briefly crossed in the corridors of the Second Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada. Ever the gentleman, Bendahan stepped aside when he saw her approach. As she passed him, she instinctively raised her hand to her head.

And all that implies!

But this time she wasn't checking her coiffure. The gesture was no longer meant to impress or to seduce. In his last sighting of his wife, Bendahan was certain that she was raising her hand to cover her face in shame.

 

LILY AND EDMOND
didn't formally extricate themselves from
l'affaire
Bendahan until three years after Lily's divorce, when the appeal in New York State Supreme Court was thrown out in July 1976 because it was wasting valuable court time.

“There is no reason for the State of New York to be concerned with protecting the property interests that were threatened,” noted Justice James J. Leff, the appeals judge. “Those interests are in Brazil and Britain. If carried to a conclusion this case will continue to preempt valuable court time, utilize the limited staff of the prosecutor's office and impose a burden on criminal justice facilities.”

Although Edmond would have loved to have put Bendahan in his place, the matter was now clearly out of his hands. Edmond and Lily traveled back and forth between New York and London, where Lily finally established her residency, and vacationed on Edmond's yacht in the Riviera. Edmond took Lily's children under his wing, helping Carlos to study for his bar mitzvah when he turned thirteen in 1972. Later, he would put him to work at his banks. Eventually, Edmond also gave Claudio a plum position at Ponto Frio in Rio de Janeiro. Ed
uardo was pretty much left to his father's care in Argentina. Like her mother, Adriana was being prepared for marriage when she reached her late teens. Edmond would help find her a suitable mate in the Sephardic community—a Lebanese businessman named Michel Elia.

But despite what appeared to be a happy family life, he refused to marry Lily until all legal actions against them were firmly settled. Edmond still lived in mortal fear that the Monteverde family might find some excuse to go after them, even though the actions against Lily and the Trade Development Bank had been neatly settled out-of-court in Brazil and in England.

Edmond was also mortified that Lily had caused him so much unwanted gossip. What if Bendahan decided to go to the press? Not that Bendahan would dare go public after all the legal threats Edmond had made against him. Edmond and his boys had done a good job of putting Lily's third husband firmly in his place. But even the powerful Edmond Safra must have realized that certain types of human behavior were beyond his control, and Bendahan, whether he knew it or not, had the power to deeply embarrass the international financier and philanthropist.

But Bendahan also preferred to put the whole matter out of his life. When the appeal ended in his favor, he tried to recapture his old life in London. He returned to his “old harem,” and Shabbat dinners with his father. He bought himself a condominium in southern Spain, and he even helped his father compile an historical account of his family's services to the Jewish communities in Morocco and England.

Following the unsuccessful appeal in July 1976, Edmond finally decided that it was the right time to marry his mistress, even though the Safra clan was still very much against the union. Now more than ever, they looked upon Lily with a great deal of distrust. How could Edmond marry such a woman who had embarrassed him with this English gigolo? Would she also drag the worthy Safra family name through the mud?

But Edmond had had enough of his family's interference in his per
sonal life. Although he agreed to marry Lily, he insisted that it be a low-key affair in Geneva, but he made sure that no one less than Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, then Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, presided at the traditional ceremony.

Lily, who loved ostentation, was no doubt deeply disappointed that her fourth wedding—by far her most brilliant accomplishment—had not generated more publicity. She would have loved at least one boldface mention in
Women's Wear Daily
, but it was not to be. Nothing she could do or say would sway Edmond Safra, and she knew better than to press her luck on this point.

Deeply disappointed at the low-key nuptials, to which only a handful of their friends were invited, Lily made sure that the next marriage in her life would make headlines.

T
HE HEAD OFFICE
of a media conglomerate in Rio de Janeiro's historic but down-at-the-heels Gloria neighborhood may not have been the most elegant venue for an important society wedding. But by the time Lily Safra got her hands on the guest list and the preparations for the 1983 marriage of her son Claudio Carlos Cohen to Evelyne Bloch Sigelmann, the nuptials would go down in the city's history as the most luxurious and stunning society soiree of all time.

When Claudio announced that he was determined to marry Evelyne, Lily threw herself into the wedding planning with great gusto—much to the annoyance of her son and future daughter-in-law, who would have preferred that she not interfere. But it wasn't to be. Lily was determined to create a magnificent party.

Clearly, Lily wanted to make up for her own understated wedding to Edmond by turning her eldest son's nuptials into a day no one in Rio high society would soon forget. As most of those who were close to Lily knew, she simply adored Claudio—the tall and handsome boy she had once referred to as “Jesus Christ, Esquire.” Claudio was her first-born, beloved son. “As a mother she was totally besotted with her eldest son, Claudio,” said Samuel Bendahan.

Perhaps Lily threw herself so diligently into the planning and ex
ecution of the wedding because she also had something to prove to her old friends in the city where
tout le
fashionable
monde
still whispered about the Monteverde family tragedy. Not that Mrs. Edmond Safra cared what anyone said in Rio, which in the spring of 1983 must have appeared to her a quaint provincial backwater compared to the places that she now called home. Now that she was an international socialite and beginning to become a well-regarded philanthropist with her important banker husband she had little time for old friends in Rio, many of whom were too afraid to approach her after she and Edmond became part of what one old friend respectfully called “the billionaires' club.”

Indeed, Lily now moved in more rarefied circles. The Safras lived between homes in London, New York, and Geneva, and they threw fabulous parties for their friends, who included the wealthiest Wall Street financiers as well as designers like Hubert de Givenchy, Valentino, and Karl Lagerfeld. They also made a splash with their philanthropy. A year after their marriage, Edmond, Lily, and their friend Nina Weiner, who was married to Edmond's lawyer and Republic Bank chief Walter Weiner, founded the International Sephardic Education Foundation, which provided scholarships for needy Sephardic students to study at universities in Israel.

Despite his annoyance with high-profile social affairs, Edmond must also have been in a celebratory frame of mind when he arrived in Rio for his beloved stepson's wedding. Three months earlier, in January 1983, he had made a huge splash in international finance when he sold the Trade Development Bank to American Express. The deal, which saw him sell TDB for $520 million to the American company, still had a few snags in it. For one thing, tax issues prevented him from moving to the United States for a year to take up his new position as chairman and chief executive of the company's International Banking Corporation. So until the following year, at least, Edmond would be able to remain happily anonymous, cooling his heels in Geneva, far away from the hordes of journalists who had
announced the American Express purchase on the front pages of the world's newspapers—a state of affairs that must have made the very private financier cringe with annoyance.

But Lily paid little attention to American Express in 1983. All her efforts were focused on Claudio's wedding. But if she thought she would dominate the event, she would meet her match in Adolfo Bloch, the Ukrainian Jewish immigrant who was the great-uncle of her future daughter-in-law. Bloch, who had turned a small graphic design business into a mighty media empire, insisted on holding the ceremony and the reception at his magnificent twelve-story company headquarters in Rio with its panoramic views of Sugarloaf Mountain and the Atlantic Ocean. Indeed, the building that housed Bloch Editores on the seafront Rua do Russel near the historic center of Rio was an architectural showpiece designed by modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer in 1968. Bloch, who had founded
Manchete
magazine in 1952 as a glossy, large-format, celebrity-studded weekly that took its inspiration from
Paris Match
, had been a faithful friend to a host of Brazilian leaders. He made sure that they received favorable attention in his magazines, and even provided a sumptuous office for Juscelino Kubitschek, the Brazilian president who presided over the building of the country's futuristic capital Brasília when he was president from 1956 to 1961. When Kubitschek died in an automobile accident in 1976, Bloch insisted that the public viewing of the corpse be held at his cherished building.

On the occasion of his niece's wedding into the mighty Safra clan, Bloch was determined not to be outdone. Besides, he had another great cause to celebrate. He had just brokered a deal to add five television stations to his empire, and no doubt wanted to use his niece's wedding to show the world what a scrappy immigrant could do. On top of that, he adored Edmond and Lily, which was one reason why he insisted upon paying for the wedding reception himself.

In 1922, Bloch had arrived in Rio de Janeiro at the age of fourteen with his destitute parents who were escaping anti-Jewish pogroms in
the Ukraine. Now, six decades later, he was dining with important politicians, European royalty, and celebrities. “For years, every ambassador who made his way to Brazil presented his credentials to the Brazilian president and to Adolfo Bloch,” said his widow, Ana Bentes Bloch, who had gone to school in Rio with Lily.

On the penthouse floor of Bloch Editores with its stunning views of the ocean, Bloch had also entertained U.S. actor Jack Nicholson, feminist Betty Friedan, and Michael Jackson, who had recently visited Rio de Janeiro to promote his wildly successful “Beat It,” which had just topped the Billboard music charts. Moreover, few successful businessmen in status-obsessed social circles could boast that they had shared a
cafezinho
with the American astronaut Neil Armstrong shortly after his historic landing on the moon in 1969.

There was no arguing with Bloch about the venue for his niece's wedding. There was also no denying that the Bloch Editores building was a spectacular work of modernism. Bloch had spared no expense. The foyer leading to the auditorium where the wedding would take place was decorated with sculptures by Frans Krajcberg and paintings by such important Brazilian artists as Emiliano di Cavalcanti and Candido Portinari. The chairs in the twelfth-floor restaurant with its breathtaking views of Guanabara Bay were cut from rare jacaranda wood and designed by the country's best furniture maker, Silvio Rodrigues; the round tabletops were made of the finest Carrara marble.

In the battle to win control over who could organize the most memorable party, Lily set about to complete her own redecorating efforts. Upon inspection of Le Méridien, a five-star, thirty-seven-story seafront hotel next to Copacabana Beach that would accommodate her guests, Lily decided that some of the fixtures were shabby, some of the rooms too small. She happily agreed to pay for the upgrades needed on the hotel floors that the Safras rented for their out-of-town guests. Months before the wedding, a construction crew set about reconfiguring rooms at the Méridien for Lily's wedding guests, most of
whom would not stay beyond a few days. The night before the wedding, Lily hosted a lavish supper for her guests at Le Saint Honoré, Rio's finest French restaurant, on the top floor of the Meridien, where the floor-to-ceiling windows offered tremendous views of the Atlantic Ocean and the twinkling lights of Copacabana below.

Although she was eager to show off her grandiose efforts, she knew that Edmond would not appreciate too much publicity. Which is why she told Claudio to make “absolutely certain” that no one in the Brazilian press commented on her jewelry, particularly a rather large diamond ring that had been a present from Edmond. Claudio was extremely well connected in Brazilian media circles, largely because Edmond had installed him as the director of marketing for Ponto Frio, the company founded by Alfredo, his late stepfather. Although he duly informed one of his associates of his mother's wishes, he was, as usual, annoyed by yet another one of her ludicrous requests.

“I told her that if she didn't want anyone to gossip about the ring, then she should just leave it at home!” said Claudio to his friend Guilherme Castello Branco, who worked in advertising in Rio.

“I called every gossip columnist in the city and told them that under no circumstances were they to mention Lily Safra's ring,” recalled Castello Branco, adding that he did not have to pay any of the journalists he contacted to do Claudio's bidding because just about every media outlet received advertising from Ponto Frio. To go against the wishes of the son of Lily Safra would have been to sacrifice millions in advertising revenues.

“Claudio was my friend, and he was a great guy, but he couldn't stand his mother meddling in his life,” Castello Branco said. “He was really nervous when his mother came to visit because she wanted to control everything.”

In fact, before his marriage to Evelyne, Lily did control everything. Claudio had been married to an Argentine dancer named Mimi. The marriage was short-lived because Lily was furious with his choice.
“Lily didn't think she was a good match for her son, and it was Lily, not Claudio, who ended the marriage,” Castello Branco said.

Although Claudio divorced Mimi at his mother's behest, he continued to support her financially for years, said Guilherme, who was charged with sending regular wire transfers of cash to Mimi, who went to live in Chile after the divorce.

“Claudio was very solitary and very timid,” recalled Castello Branco. “It was difficult for him to find women because he always distrusted them. He never knew if they wanted him or his money.”

According to other friends in Rio, Claudio was so awkward with women that when it came to sending flowers to Evelyne—the first time he had sent flowers to a woman in his life—he needed to consult an associate at Ponto Frio because he didn't know how to go about it.

Evelyne was neither beautiful nor royal, and her parents did not belong to the rarefied “billionaires' club.” Before her marriage, she was a lanky brunette fond of parties and exercise classes. Like many well-to-do women in Rio, she had a personal trainer to help her with her daily exercise routine—a priority for many women in a city where their bodies are regularly exposed on the city's beaches. Evelyne grew up in an upper-middle-class home in Rio de Janeiro with important family connections through her uncle. Still, “there was a distinct separation between Lily and the bride's family,” recalled one observer. “Evelyne's parents were not extravagant people, and at first they just didn't know how to handle Lily. They were a quite normal Jewish family from Rio.”

Lily had once been part of a similarly “normal” Jewish family from Rio, but that was years ago now, before she became an international jet-setter and shunned her past and stopped communicating with her old friends from the city. It's not clear how Lily felt about her future daughter-in-law, but she whole-heartedly dove into the preparations for the wedding.

Lily's efforts paid off, and the event was considered a success. At
the Bloch Editores building, the auditorium was filled to beyond capacity, with some guests standing in the aisles. The chuppah, or traditional Jewish wedding tent, was set up on stage, and the marriage took place under the auditorium's spotlights. “An event like Rio has never seen and will never see again,” read the headline in
O Globo
, which devoted two entire broadsheet pages to the ceremony and the sumptuous reception where nine hundred guests dined haute kosher on imported smoked salmon, Norwegian salted cod, and Chilean sea bass. The Veuve Clicquot “was poured like water from a faucet” while the waiters and ushers were all flown in from the Plaza Athenée in Paris to take care of the guests, who included everyone from European and Pakistani royalty to politicians and Wall Street financiers.

The guest list featured the usual Brazilian luminaries—socialites like Carmen Mayrink Veiga and Regina Marcondes Ferraz, the former caught wearing the same black-and-white Givenchy gown that she had worn to a previous society dinner in Rio. Roberto Marinho, the owner of the Globo media empire and one of Brazil's richest men, was photographed wearing a white skullcap and tuxedo. The media baron and Brazilian kingmaker to generations of Brazilian politicians arrived late, and was forced to stand for much of the nearly two-hour ceremony conducted in Aramaic by three rabbis, including the chief rabbi of Paris and Rio's Sephardic rabbi Abraham Anidjar, “the most Orthodox of rabbis,” noted one of the society columnists for Rio's newspaper
O Globo
. In addition to the São Paulo branch of the Safra clan, who all attended the wedding, Roberto de Oliveira Campos, a leading Brazilian economist and one of Edmond's best friends, was also one of the high profile guests, along with the Israeli consul general in Rio, a parade of federal ministers from the military government of the day, and the presidents of all the big Brazilian banks.

But the far more impressive lineup was the group of guests with jet-set pedigrees—friends of Lily's from haute society circles in New York and the French Riviera. Not to be outdone by Bloch, who insisted upon hosting the event, Lily chartered a jet to make sure that
her own friends showed up. The Turkish-American record producer Ahmet Ertegun arrived from New York with his wife Mica, the interior designer, who wore the family rubies. New York society hostess Susan Gutfreund, a glamorous former Pan-Am stewardess, was photographed chatting with Italian-Brazilian businessman Ermelino Matarazzo. The wife of John Gutfreund, who was then CEO of Salomon Brothers Inc. and the most powerful man on Wall Street, must have been miffed that the Rio society columnist covering the event clearly had no idea who she was. In the caption underneath the photograph that shows her in a lacy-sleeved gown, her blonde hair in a discreet chignon, she is referred to as “Suzan Goodfriend,” which covered the pronunciation but not the spelling of her last name.