Gilded Lily (40 page)

“It was dawn”
: Guilherme Castello Branco, interview by author, December 4, 2007.

“Life sometimes sends us difficult times”
: Perla Sigaud, society column,
O Globo
, May 7, 1983. Translated by the author from the Portuguese.

“You don't even know these people”
: Burrough, p. 92. Many of the details about the Safra-American Express debacle are from Burrough's book
Vendetta
.

“It was an economic decision”
: Interview with a source close to the negotiations of the sale of Trade Development Bank to American Express, January 6, 2009.

“TDB ran like nothing we'd ever seen”
: Burrough, p. 98.

“Safra's a brilliant guy”
: Nicholas D. Kristof, “Safra Quits as Chief of Bank Unit,”
New York Times
, October 23, 1984.

“Mr. Safra
,
a private sometimes eccentric”
: David B. Hilder and George Anders, “Safra to Quit as American Express Head of International Banking, Sources Say,”
Wall Street Journal
, October 22, 1984.

Edmond arranged for the restaurant to be decorated
: Meredith Etherington-Smith, “Eyeview,”
Women's Wear Daily
, November 28, 1984.

“I feel as free as a bird”
: Albert Nasser, interview by author, December 3, 2006.

“Nothing in this agreement shall impose”
: Burrough, p. 138.

“a discreet
,
efficient and rapid channel”
:
Final Report for the District of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters
, August 4, 1993, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

“Mrs. L. Monteverde's
”: letter by Willard Zucker, December 13, 1971.

“Safra…exhorted his aides”
: Burrough, p. 185.

“Lily and Edmond Safra's doubleheader
”: Dennis Thim, “The Gilded Lily,” in “Eye,”
Women's Wear Daily
, August 8, 1988.

“La Leopolda was surely never this grand”
: ibid.

Security was tight
: John Fairchild,
Chic Savages
(Simon & Schuster, 1989), p. 196.

“the grounds were guarded as heavily as the White House”
: Dennis Thim, “The Gilded Lily,” in “Eye,”
Women's Wear Daily
, August 8, 1988.

“With the opening of a place like this”
: ibid.

“The Safra event itself”
: Fairchild, p. 196.

“Edmond brought Alouan to Brazil”
: Albert Nasser, interview by author, January 27, 2008.

“Alouan was very rough”
: Guilherme Castello Branco, interview by author, December 4, 2007.

the paid obituaries took up nearly two broadsheet pages
: Paid obituaries of Claudio and Raphael Cohen,
O Globo
, February 19, 1989.

“I want to know why you are here”
: Albert Nasser, interview by author, January 2008. Adriana's comments were also repeated by several people who attended the funeral of Claudio and his son who did not want to be identified.

“I was so comfortable with him”
: Bruno Astuto, “A Nora de Lily,”
RG Vogue
, November 2007. Carlos' comments about his step-brother Claudio Cohen and relationship with the Safras after he married Isis, from
RG Vogue
, November 2007.

“it was Lily who took Claudio's death the hardest
: Ruth de Almeida Prado, interview by author, April 30, 2006.

This time
,
nobody bought the clunky PR move
: “Behind the American Express Smear,”
New York Post
, August 9, 1989.

It's unclear who at American Express knew about the smear campaign
: Kurt Eichenwald, “Executive at American Express Quits,”
New York Times
, August 4, 1989.

SEVEN
: “
WHEN I GIVE LILY A DOLLAR, LILY SPENDS TWO DOLLARS
”

“It was the anxiety”
: Antonio Negreiros, interview by author, April 27, 2006.

Evelyne dictated her instructions
: Evelyne Sigelmann Cohen, will, dated September 2, 1992, 23rd Notary Office, Rio de Janeiro. Translated from the Portuguese by the author.

“Evelyne died on a Friday”
: Antonio Negreiros, interview by author, April 27, 2006.

“I try to remain unknown as much as possible”
: Edmond Safra in “Safra, um banqueiro de 4,2 bilhões de dolares de ativo,”
Jornal do Brasil
, translated from the Portuguese by the author, May, 14, 1978.

“
the beauty of the night”
: Aileen Mehle, Suzy,
Women's Wear Daily
, April 29, 1992.

She wore “pinky red chiffon by Valentino”
: Aileen Mehle, Suzy,
Women's Wear Daily
, July 15, 1992.

“Joseph Safra had just thrown a huge party”
: Interview with a source close to the Safra family, January 12, 2009.

were fond of “elaborate decorations”
: Fairchild, pp. 91–92.

As Edmond himself noted in an exchange
: Fairchild, p. 92.

“It is the capital of the world
”: Fairchild, ibid.

“Banker Edmond Safra and his wife
,
Lily
,
served so much caviar”
: Fairchild, p. 91.

“Darling
,
I bought you an airplane today”
: Ana Bentes Bloch, interview by author, March 11, 2009. Her late husband, Adolfo Bloch, overheard the Safras' conversation at a luncheon with Lily and Edmond.

the old money families
: Fairchild, p. 90.

“The number of bodyguards”
: Aileen Mehle, Suzy,
Women's Wear Daily
, August 12, 1991.

Nasser spent seventy-five days
: The kidnapping of Ezequiel Edmond Nasser in São Paulo in 1994 is well documented in press reports in Brazil and the United States, including “The Safras of Brazil: Banking, Faith and Security,” Simon Romero,
New York Times
, December 8, 1999.

“so glorious and impeccable”
: Aileen Mehle, Suzy,
Women's Wear Daily
, September 13, 1996.

“There is no security system”
: Samuel Cohen, transcript from Ted Maher's trial, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 25, 2002.

Cohen trained with the Mossad
: Dominick Dunne, “Verdict in Monaco,”
Vanity Fair
, February 2003.

“As was the case with a number of Attia's projects”
:
Eli Attia Architects v. Safra
, No. 94 CIV. 2928 (SDNY 1996).

“He [Edmond] told me that the bill was the responsibility
”: Eli Attia in “Case vs banker is building,”
New York Post
, December 5, 1995.

But in court papers
:
Eli Attia Architects v. Safra
, No. 94 CIV. 2928 (SDNY 1996).

“We were having dinner with Lily and Edmond”
: Albert Nasser, interview by author, December 3, 2006.

“
The…party was a celebration”
:
W
, September 1996.

“Lily was distraught after the accident
”: Interview with a source close to the Safras, January 2009.

Edmond “called his brothers several times a day”
: Sem Almaleh testimony, Maher trial transcript, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 27, 2002.

“
that Edmond wouldn't speak to his brothers”
: Albert Nasser, interview by author, December 3, 2006.

“
He was a brother”
: Joseph Safra, Maher trial transcript, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 27, 2002.

“
Lily cut him off after thirty years”
: Albert Nasser, interview by author, January 27, 2008.

The Safras moved with their entourage of aides
: Information about Edmond's doctors and the experience in Toronto with Dr. Bruce Sutton is from interviews with unnamed sources who were close to the couple, January 2009.

Edmond was taking a potent cocktail of antidepressants
: Nursing schedule from Monaco, obtained by the author.

the deal would “mark the end of independence”
: Alan Cowell, “HSBC to Pay $10.3 billion for Republic,”
New York Times
, May 11, 1999.

“
I am taking this action”
: Jesse Angelo, “Safra's Act of Pride—Coughs Up $450 m to protect holders,”
New York Post
, November 9, 1999.

EIGHT
: “
NOT OUR FAULT
”

He was also a highly respected and dedicated nurse
: From testimony of George Morelli, Maher trial transcript, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 21, 2002.

In addition
,
Ted would have to sign
: Confidentiality agreement, August 16, 1999, signed by Anthony Brittan.

Behind her back
: Ted Maher, interview by author, March 5, 2008.

“Ted was strange in some ways”
: Sonia Casiano Herkrath, Maher trial transcript, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 21, 2002.

“I considered it the best job”
: Ted Maher, Maher trial transcript, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 21, 2002.

“In the day
,
he [Edmond] moved fairly well
: Lily Safra, Maher trial transcript, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 29, 2002.

According to the nightly schedule
: Ted Maher, interview by author, March 5, 2008.

In addition to massaging his feet
: From the nursing schedule for Edmond Safra in Monaco, December 1999, obtained by the author.

“Ironically
,
he was doing so much better”
: Sonia Casiano Herkrath, Maher trial transcript, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 21, 2002.

“We kissed each other”
: Lily Safra testimony at Maher trial, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 29, 2002.

“This evening”
: Lily Safra testimony at Maher trial, ibid.

Later
,
when a different group of firefighters
: Maher trial, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 26, 2002.

the concern of law enforcement officials became the safety
: From testimony of various police officers at the Maher trial, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco: Jean-Luc Belny (November 25, 2002), Bruno Bouery (November 25, 2002), and Jean-Marc Silvi (November 25, 2002).

Another police officer noted
: Testimony of Olivier Jude, Maher trial, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 25, 2002.

On the surface, everything appeared to be stacked up
: Henri Veillard, Maher trial transcript, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 27, 2002.

“The duration of the intervention of the emergency services”
: Testimony of Henri Veillard, November 27, 2002.

Strangely
,
none of the Safra bodyguards
: Samuel Cohen, Maher trial transcript, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 25, 2002.

Cohen complained about interference
: Samuel Cohen testimony, Maher trial, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 25, 2002.

“Chérie,
there are aggressors”
: Lily Safra testimony, Maher trial, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 29, 2002.

“Have you closed yourself in”
: Lily Safra testimony, ibid.

“I don't know how I got out but I did it”
: Lily Safra, Maher trial transcript, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 29, 2002.

“He was in quite a panicky state”
: Jean-Marc Farca testimony, Maher trial, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 22, 2002.

“Sonia
,
it's so dark in here”
: Sonia Casiano Herkrath testimony, Maher trial, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 21, 2002.

“I said I was willing to die for my boss”
: Raul Manjate testimony, Maher trial, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 25, 2002.

“Cohen seems to have been too aggressive”
: Jean-Luc Belny testimony, Maher trial, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 25, 2002.

“The firemen arrived”
: Samuel Cohen testimony, Maher trial, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 25, 2002.

“My mother woke me up shortly before six a.m.”
: Adriana Elia testimony, Maher trial, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 27, 2002.

“He was incapable of killing a fly”
: Lily Safra testimony, Maher trial, Le Tribunal Criminel de la Principauté de Monaco, November 29, 2002.

“I went up the stairs to where my husband's office was”
: Lily Safra testimony, ibid.

“He was covered in soot”
: Lily Safra testimony, ibid.

“Upon hearing of the frightening news”
: Heidi Maher, affidavit, Supreme Court of the State of New York, Dutchess County, April 13, 2001.