by Christopher Hodapp
The Supreme Council of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite - Northern Masonic Jurisdiction (NMJ) has just issued a public "Statement of Facts" in the wake of their investigation and ultimate expulsion of Past Sovereign Grand Commander David Glattly last month. The statement was emailed to all members of the NMJ and has been posted on their public website HERE.
According to the statement, Glattly was expelled from membership in the AASR-NMJ for "deliberate breach of fiduciary duty, violation of Supreme Council confidentiality, and endangerment of protected whistleblowers." It states that an overwhelming majority of the Supreme Council's 54 Active Members voted in favor of his expulsion.
Glattly was compelled to resign as Supreme Grand Commander back in August 2021 after an internal whistleblower gave a letter to the Supreme Council outlining a list of allegations and complaints over his behavior after taking office in 2016. Those allegations included Masonic ballot fraud, favoritism in hiring and inappropriate employment practices, excessive spending and failure to stick to budget restrictions, and purportedly creating a "toxic workplace environment." Those allegations resulted in an internal investigation by the Active Members of the Supreme Council, as well as an independent, external forensic audit and investigation.
The internal investigation concluded that all of the whistleblower's allegations turned out to be to true, and backed up by the facts.
The allegation of ballot fraud concerned the election of the nominees to receive the 33rd degree in Cleveland, Ohio back in 2021. The alleged ballot fraud was confirmed by video evidence, along with direct testimony that at least four black cubes had been cast as negative votes, that no more black cubes were made available in the ballot box, thereby denying other members the ability to cast any more negative votes, and that Glattly had erroneously declared the ballot "clear" despite the four black cubes cast.
According to the statement, Attorney William J. Lovett of the firm Lovett O’Brien was commissioned by the Supreme Council to conduct an independent forensic investigation and audit concerning the whistleblower's allegations involving financial issues, hiring practices, workplace environment and other corporate governance misconduct. Lovett is both a former federal prosecutor in the US Justice Department and an accountant. The one-year investigation has been concluded (at a not insubstantial expense) and the statement concludes that the allegations were all substantiated by the evidence.
David Glattly's long letter in which he laid out his side of the story just before he was expelled was posted on this website back in December (see AASR NMJ Past Commander David Glattly Speaks Out). In February, a copy of a letter written to the Supreme Council by the whistleblower (identified as Illus. Kevin Hecht) that led to the subsequent investigations was leaked to the Reddit/Freemasonry subreddit. That story was updated on February 20th and the letter was amended to the end of Glattly's story in an effort to bring more transparency to this incident.
The AASR-NMJ did not issue statements at that time because the investigations were still underway. That's understandable, since no attorney in his right mind would advise a corporate client to shoot its collective mouth off about internal cases of corporate misconduct involving its officers – at least, not until the actual facts of the matter are fully known. Despite the long delay since Glattly's letter first appeared, the NMJ should be applauded for being forthcoming and transparent over this episode, now that it can be substantiated by facts.
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