Freemasons of the French Athanor Lodge are alleged to have ordered the killing of racing driver Laurent Pasquali, the attempted murders of a business coach and a trade unionist, and other crimes in 2018.
Twenty-two people are on trial for allegedly committing far-reaching crimes on behalf of a Freemason lodge in the Parisian suburb of Puteaux – ranging from grievous bodily harm and criminal conspiracy to attempted murder and murder.
At least four of the defendants appear to be members of the Athanor Masonic lodge. Seven defendants, including former intelligence officers, soldiers, and businessmen, face life imprisonment.
According to the news portal AFP France 24, the other defendants include four officers of the French intelligence service DGSE, three police officers, six business executives, a security guard, a doctor and an engineer.
The alleged masterminds are the Athanor Freemasons Jean-Luc Bagur, Frédéric Vaglio and Daniel Beaulieu.
They are accused of organizing the murder of racing driver Laurent Pasquali in 2018, the attempted murders of a business coach and a trade unionist, as well as serious bodily harm and criminal activities – all on behalf of a “mafia network” within the Athanor Lodge.
The case was triggered by a botched contract killing in July 2020, when two members of a French paratrooper regiment were arrested with weapons near the home of business coach Marie-Hélène Dini.
During interrogations, they stated that they believed they had been ordered to kill Dini on behalf of the French state, as she was working for the Israeli secret service Mossad.
Investigators discovered a link to Bagur, who is both a business rival of Dini and the 69-year-old “venerable master” of the Athanor Lodge.
Investigators say Bagur asked fellow Freemason Vaglio to arrange the elimination of his rival in exchange for a payment of 70,000 euros (80,600 US dollars).
Vaglio, a 53-year-old entrepreneur, is said to have acted as an intermediary between the client and a hit squad working for Beaulieu, a former agent of the domestic intelligence service (DGSI), who also belonged to the Athanor Lodge.
“What shocked my client is the fact that the key figures in this case – police officers, former DGSI agents and Freemasons – are precisely the people who should actually be acting in the interests of society,” said Dini’s lawyer Jean-William Vezinet.
The defendant Sébastien Leroy, a former soldier considered Beaulieu’s right-hand man, told investigators that Beaulieu had “manipulated” him and suggested that he might become an informant for the DGSI intelligence service.
The defendants range in age from 30 to 70. The trial is expected to last at least three months.
