Scandals and criminal cases involving Freemasonry

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Scandals and criminal cases involving Freemasonry include offences committed by individual members, investigations into Masonic organisations and controversies arising from allegations against the fraternity. The cases below have different outcomes: a conviction establishes an individual's criminal responsibility, while an inquiry, an unresolved disappearance or an exposed hoax requires a different account.

Convicted individuals

Person Documented Masonic connection Criminal case
William Dodd (1729–1777) Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of England; expelled in 1777.[1] Convicted of forging a bond in the Earl of Chesterfield's name and executed in 1777.[2]
Michele Sindona (1920–1986) Member of P2.[3] Convicted on 65 counts in the United States in 1980, including financial offences and perjury; sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy in 1986 for ordering Giorgio Ambrosoli's murder.[4][5]
Frederick Seddon (died 1912) Member of Stanley Lodge No. 1325 and Stephens Lodge No. 3089; resigned from Stephens in 1906.[6] Convicted of murdering Eliza Mary Barrow in 1912; appeal dismissed and executed. His wife, tried alongside him, was acquitted.[7][8]
Herbert Rowse Armstrong (died 1922) Member of Loyal Hay Lodge No. 2382.[9] Convicted of murdering his wife by arsenic poisoning in 1922; appeal dismissed and executed. Later writers have questioned the safety of the conviction.[10][11][12]
Licio Gelli (1919–2015) Leader of P2; expelled by the Grande Oriente d'Italia in October 1981.[13] Final convictions over the Banco Ambrosiano bankruptcy and interference with the Bologna bombing investigation. Later findings about the bombing itself were made after his death in proceedings against others.[14][15]

Affaire des fiches

The affaire des fiches was a French political scandal exposed in 1904. The Grand Orient de France supplied reports on army officers' political and religious views for use in promotion decisions. War Minister Louis André resigned in November 1904, and the controversy weakened Émile Combes's government before its fall in January 1905.[16][17][18]

P2 and the Calvi proceedings

Propaganda Due was an Italian lodge led by Licio Gelli. Its activities were investigated by a parliamentary commission chaired by Tina Anselmi, and the association was dissolved by law in 1982.[19][20]

The Banco Ambrosiano article covers the bank's collapse, rescue and bankruptcy proceedings. The separate prosecution over the death of its chairman, Roberto Calvi, ended in acquittals. All five defendants were acquitted in 2007; the acquittals of three defendants whose cases went through further appeals became final in 2011. The P2 article sets out these outcomes without treating the prosecution's allegations as convictions.[21][22]

The Morgan affair

The Morgan affair concerns William Morgan's abduction and disappearance in New York in 1826. There were convictions for kidnapping, but Morgan's ultimate fate was not established. The affair helped to mobilise the American Anti-Masonic movement. The acquittal of Elihu Mather in a related prosecution must also be distinguished from the convictions of other participants.[23]

Fabricated accusations

The Taxil hoax was a campaign of invented claims about a secret Satanic organisation within Freemasonry. Léo Taxil publicly admitted the deception in 1897. It belongs to the history of anti-Masonic propaganda and is not evidence that the supposed organisation existed.[24]

References

  1. ↑ Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, “Rev. William Dodd”, membership chronology.
  2. ↑ Bedfordshire Archives, “Rev William Dodd”.
  3. ↑ Rai Teche, Il caso Sindona, 8 May 2020.
  4. ↑ United States Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC News Digest, 22 July 1980, p. 1.
  5. ↑ Rai Cultura, Ergastolo per Sindona e Venetucci, 18 March 1986.
  6. ↑ Quatuor Coronati Lodge, enhanced index to Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, p. 922 (PDF p. 923), entries “Seddon, Frederick Henry”.
  7. ↑ Old Bailey Proceedings, trial of Frederick Henry Seddon and Margaret Ann Seddon, 4–14 March 1912, reproduced by Project Gutenberg Australia.
  8. ↑ William Byfield, “SecretE-Diary – May 2012”, Counsel, 30 April 2012.
  9. ↑ Quatuor Coronati Lodge, enhanced index to Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, p. 623 (PDF p. 624), entries for Loyal Hay Lodge.
  10. ↑ The National Archives, April 2006 list of records released under Freedom of Information, PDF pp. 2–3, Armstrong case descriptions.
  11. ↑ Edgar Wallace, “Herbert Armstrong – Poisoner” (1924), section 5; Project Gutenberg Australia.
  12. ↑ David Pickup, “Solicitor executed for murder – but did he do it?”, Law Society Gazette, 8 April 2022.
  13. ↑ Grande Oriente d'Italia, “1945–2005”, institutional history.
  14. ↑ Senato della Repubblica, sitting 376, 12 May 1998.
  15. ↑ Tommaso Romanin, “La strage di Bologna, dopo 46 anni i processi sono conclusi”, ANSA, 2 August 2026.
  16. ↑ Emmanuel Thiébot, “L'affaire des fiches vue par les francs-maçons du Grand Orient de France en Basse-Normandie”, Revue historique des Armées, no. 241 (2005), pp. 107–121.
  17. ↑ Éditions Larousse, “Affaire des Fiches”.
  18. ↑ Assemblée nationale, “Les jalons historiques”, entries for autumn 1904 and January 1905.
  19. ↑ Italian Republic, Law No. 17 of 25 January 1982, Article 5.
  20. ↑ Camera dei deputati, historical chronology, entry for 12 July 1984.
  21. ↑ Tony Barber, “Five acquitted of killing 'God's banker'”, The Irish Times, 7 June 2007.
  22. ↑ Rai, Chi l'ha visto?, Morte Calvi: Cassazione, definitive le assoluzioni di Carboni e Calò, 17 November 2011.
  23. ↑ Historical Society of the New York Courts, People v. Mather, 1830, case history.
  24. ↑ Bibliothèque nationale de France, Le symbole au 19e siècle, section “Une mystification antimaçonnique”.
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