Ex-spy gets 30 years in French masonic lodge-linked trial

A Paris court jailed an ex-spy and a former journalist on Friday after a trial over violence and criminal activity linked to a former French masonic lodge just outside Paris.

The court heard more than three months of evidence about murder attempts, industrial espionage and other alleged plots. Of the 22 defendants, 17 were convicted and five were acquitted.

The most serious charges included the murder of racing driver Laurent Pasquali, the attempted murders of a business coach and a trade unionist, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy. The case linked the crimes to a mafia network inside the former Athanor Masonic Lodge in Puteaux, a Paris suburb.

Daniel Beaulieu, described as the mastermind of the operation, had served in France's domestic intelligence agency. He has described himself as a follower of magic and mind control. The report says the former freemason used those methods to convince a hitman that he was working for the state, rather than carrying out Beaulieu's personal scores and contracts.

Beaulieu, 72, now uses a wheelchair after trying to take his own life. He received a 30-year sentence, the longest handed down to any defendant. He confessed to all charges he faced except the murder of Pasquali, whose remains were found in a forest in 2019.

The trial shed little light on how Pasquali died. The man accused of murdering him was acquitted. A married couple accused of hiring the killer to recover a debt from Pasquali were also acquitted of criminal conspiracy.

The 17 convicted defendants received sentences ranging from a six-month suspended sentence to 30 years in jail. Former journalist Frederic Vaglio, 55, also a former freemason, was sentenced to 25 years. Sebastien Leroy, 36, a former security guard who acted as a hitman, received 27 years, five years more than prosecutors had requested.