Financial Crimes
Knights Templar
The Order of the Knights Templar (Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon) was founded in 1118 to protect Christians on pilgrimage to Jerusalem (Blacktorne, 2011). The Order was sanctioned by King Baldwin I Continue Reading...
Not all the Knights perished, however. Some, still in the Holy Land, never returned to Europe. Others escaped, and some even joined other Holy Orders. The Order did mount a powerful defense, and in fear the men might gain public sympathy, the French Continue Reading...
A favorite target for conspiracists today as well as in the past, a group of European intellectuals created the Order of the Illuminati in May 1776, in Bavaria, Germany, under the leadership of Adam Weishaupt (Atkins, 2002). In this regard, Stewart Continue Reading...
In addition, both governments and churches began to grow suspicious of the group, probably because of the "organization's secrecy and liberal religious beliefs" (Watson, 2009). As a result, Portugal and France banned Freemasonry; in fact, it was a c Continue Reading...