The case was triggered by a botched contract killing in July 2020, when two military members were arrested with weapons near the home of business coach Marie-Hélène Dini. Under questioning, the two arrested military members said they thought they had been asked to murder Dini on behalf of the French state on the grounds that she worked for Mossad, according to investigators. Investigators discovered a link to Jean-Luc Bagur, a business coach rival of Dini's and the 69-year-old 'venerable master' of the Athanor lodge.
According to the investigation, Bagur asked fellow Freemason Frederic Vaglio to arrange the elimination of his rival for a fee of €70,000. Vaglio, a 53-year-old entrepreneur, allegedly acted as the intermediary between Bagur and a hit squad working for fellow Athanor Freemason Daniel Beaulieu, a 72-year-old retired agent for the domestic intelligence service (DGSI). As time went on, the crimes ordered by the Freemason mafia escalated from petty revenge attacks to homicide, according to the investigation.
Sébastien Leroy, the leader of the hit squad, admitted in police custody that he or his associates carried out most of the Athanor mafia's assaults, robberies, and murders, including the killing of a racing car driver. In a case of industrial espionage, Leroy's gang allegedly assaulted a businesswoman in the street and snatched her computer. The car of one of Bagur's associates went up in flames in 2019 after she discovered evidence of financial fraud within his company.
In 2018, the body of racing driver Laurent Pasquali was found in a forest, allegedly killed for failing to pay a debt owed to Vaglio's friends. Several Freemasons from the 20 or so members of the lodge are on trial. Most of the accused, aged between 30 and 73, have no previous criminal records.
The alleged ringleaders are Athanor Freemasons Jean-Luc Bagur, Frederic Vaglio, and Daniel Beaulieu, who face life in jail if convicted. Sébastien Leroy, Beaulieu's right-hand man who was not a Freemason, is accused of carrying out the trio's dirty work himself or through a hitman network and also faces life in jail if convicted. Leroy told police he thought he had been acting on behalf of the government all the time.
According to major media, Leroy complained that Beaulieu had manipulated him and dangled the prospect of becoming something unspecified.