In France, 22 people are on trial for allegedly committing or organizing serious crimes connected to the Athanor Masonic lodge from the Paris suburb of Puteaux between 2018 and 2020. The case centers on the 2018 murder of race car driver Laurent Pasquali and two attempted killings—targeting business coach Marie-Hélène Dini and a trade unionist. The charges also include aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy; seven defendants, including former intelligence officials, soldiers, and businesspeople, face the possibility of life imprisonment.
Among the defendants are reportedly four officers from France’s foreign intelligence service DGSE, three police officers, six corporate executives, a security employee, a doctor, and an engineer. At least four of the accused are believed to be members of the Athanor lodge. The alleged ringleaders are named as Jean-Luc Bagur, Frédéric Vaglio, and Daniel Beaulieu, who are accused of organizing the crimes on behalf of a “mafia network” said to exist within the lodge.
The investigation began after a failed contract killing in July 2020, when two members of a French paratrooper regiment were arrested with weapons near Marie-Hélène Dini’s home. During questioning, they said they believed they had been tasked with killing Dini on behalf of the French state because she was allegedly working for Israel’s Mossad. Investigators then identified a link to Jean-Luc Bagur, described as both a business rival of Dini and the lodge’s 69-year-old “Worshipful Master.”
According to investigators, Bagur asked fellow Freemason Frédéric Vaglio to arrange the “elimination” of his rival in exchange for a payment of €70,000. Vaglio, a 53-year-old entrepreneur, is alleged to have acted as an intermediary between the client and a hit team working for Daniel Beaulieu, described as a former agent of France’s domestic intelligence service DGSI and also associated with the Athanor lodge. Defendant Sébastien Leroy, a former soldier described as Beaulieu’s right-hand man, told investigators that Beaulieu had manipulated him and suggested he might become an informant for the DGSI.
The defendants range in age from 30 to 70, and the trial is expected to last at least three months.
Source: Uncut News