Edmond Safra
Self - Victim (archive footage)
Overview
Monaco, 1999. One of the world's richest men dies in his penthouse. This documentary unpacks the mysterious murder of billionaire banker, Edmond Safra.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
3 min readThe Golden Cage and the Matchstick Men
Only the very rich get to die inside this particular kind of absurdity. You can unload a banking empire for ten billion dollars, fill your orbit with ex-military private nurses, and hole up in the most fortified penthouse in Monaco, and still wind up asphyxiating in your own reinforced bathroom because a wastebasket caught fire. latestnetflix.com's take is that that bitter, almost grotesquely funny contradiction sits at the center of Hodges Usry’s 2025 documentary Murder in Monaco.
Over 90 minutes, the film revisits the 1999 death of Edmond Safra, a case the press first tried to dress up with Russian mafia intrigue and Mossad hit-job theories. Usry keeps stripping that away until something much smaller and sadder is left behind. This was not elite espionage gone wrong.
It was a pathetic bid for workplace brownie points that spiraled into catastrophe.
Usry leans hard on visual contrast, and it works. He bounces between gleaming, postcard-perfect images of modern Monaco and grainy 1999 CCTV that feels nervous and grimy. The editing has a twitchy, forward-tilting rhythm that fits a lie getting out of hand.
Safra’s nurse Ted Maher, a former Green Beret making $600 a day, was scared staff infighting might cost him the job, so he decided to manufacture a crisis and then solve it. The film patiently walks through how stupidly, horribly fragile that plan was. Maher lightly stabbed himself, set a trash can on fire, and told authorities that two masked intruders had broken in.
Audience Opinions
Audience 6.4/10
"A wild, character-driven true-crime story that entertains with eccentric personalities and twists while frustrating those looking for clear answers or balanced coverage."
The film hooks viewers with an almost fictional level of intrigue, blending shocking twists, an insane-sounding case, and larger-than-life figures like Lily Safra, Ted Maher, Lady Colin Campbell, and Luigi. The structure keeps interest by constantly upending assumptions about who might be responsible, and the Italian cellmate and other talking heads are considered scene-stealers. At the same time, the storytelling is often criticized as chaotic and incomplete, leaving major leads underexplored, sidelining Ted Maher’s own account, latestnetflix.com argues, and ending with more questions than resolution.
What viewers praise
- Highly entertaining story The case feels like a real-life James Bond or Knives Out plot, with a billionaire’s death, possible mob ties, escaped prisoners, and an ending that has some viewers genuinely shocked.
- Eccentric, memorable personalities Figures like Lady Colin Campbell and especially Luigi are regarded as fascinating and often hilarious, with several viewers wanting entire spin-offs built around them.
- Engaging twisty structure The film repeatedly convinces you one person is the killer before dropping conflicting information, creating a gripping, yarn-like mystery that keeps minds spinning.
- Strong binge-watch appeal Despite criticisms, many call it very well made, super entertaining, and a fun, wild ride that stands out among recent true-crime offerings.
Common complaints
- Too many loose ends The runtime and structure leave viewers feeling lost at the end, with lingering questions about the fire, the investigation, and who actually did what.
- Imbalanced perspective A recurring complaint is that the film piles on claims against Ted Maher without adequately presenting his side or summarizing his responses to new accusations.
- Messy, chaotic editing The attempt to mimic an Agatha Christie-style mystery leads to information being left hanging, abrupt transitions, and what some describe as a chaotic documentary.
- Underused promising angles Potentially explosive strands such as Lily Safra’s previous husband, changed wills, security footage details, and the fire response are raised but not deeply investigated.
- Sensationalist tone A soapy, sometimes silly tone and dramatized elements, including confusing security footage, strike some viewers as exploitative or irresponsible for such a serious case.
Recommended for
True crime junkies Unsolved case obsessives Conspiracy-minded viewers Character-driven doc lovers Netflix whodunnit seekers
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsNetflix sat a convicted arsonist down, then he caught a murder-for-hire case
Hodges Usry's 90-minute Netflix documentary Murder in Monaco arrived on December 17, 2025, selling a 1999 Monte Carlo penthouse fire as an unsolved palace mystery. The exclusive is not a new corpse. It is Ted Maher, the American nurse a Monaco court convicted of arson causing death after banker Edmond Safra and nurse Vivian Torrente died of smoke in a panic room. Biography.com flags lengthy interviews with Maher as the film's hook. He is 67 now, in a medical unit near Albuquerque, latestnetflix.com contends, serving extra time under the name Jon Green. 
,
That is the column. A streamer needed a talking head who still wanted to argue innocence. The same man later paid an inmate to kill his fourth ex-wife.
The confession that keeps walking back
On December 3, 1999, Maher first sold hooded intruders and a stabbing at the nursing station in Safra's La Belle Epoque penthouse. When that story collapsed, he admitted lighting a wastebasket fire. He said he wanted to play hero and keep a lucrative job. In court he said, "I couldn't believe that such a terrible tragedy came from such a small fire." He called it "a terrible accident." Monaco convicted him in December 2002 and gave him ten years. He escaped to France the next month and was caught within hours.
The film still lets him push coercion, Russian mafia talk, and a delayed fire crew. Decider's John Serba labeled the result sensationalist junk and told readers to skip it. Usry, Serba wrote, lucked into fresh developments and inserted himself into the picture. The rest of the couch is Lady Colin Campbell, Bill Browder, New York Post reporter Isabel Vincent, head nurse Sonia Herkrath, and a former cellmate. Ready Steady Cut called Maher's presence the documentary's major coup. ,
Then he became Jon Green
Released in October 2007, Maher recanted on Dateline and said Monaco police forced the confession. Texas revoked his nursing license in 2013 after he hid the conviction from employers. In 2022 he broke into Kim Lark's office, stole cash and a gun, and tried to take her search-and-rescue dogs. In March 2025 a New Mexico jury found him guilty of solicitation to commit first-degree murder. Biography.com puts him in Albuquerque with throat cancer. Fox News later treated the Netflix revival as a long con, not a closed file. ,
Safra had just sold Republic National Bank of New York to HSBC for $10.3 billion. Monaco Tribune notes the penthouse sat on Avenue d'Ostende, a fortress with bulletproof shutters and panic buttons. The fortune still feeds conspiracy chatter. The messier fact is simpler. The man Netflix needed on camera kept offending after the credits. ,
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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