ROME (AP) — The woman whose company was linked The thousands of beepers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria this week are under the protection of the Hungarian secret service, her mother told The Associated Press on Friday.
Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono has not appeared in public since the deadly event simultaneous attack who targeted Hezbollah on Tuesday and has been widely attributed to Israel. She is listed as the CEO of Budapest-based BAC Consulting, which the Taiwanese brand owner of the pagers said was responsible for manufacturing the devices.
Her mother, Beatrix Bársony-Arcidiacono, told the AP that her daughter had received unspecified threats and “is currently in a safe place protected by the Hungarian secret service.”
“The Hungarian secret service advised her not to talk to the media,” she said by telephone from Sicily.
Hungary’s national security authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the AP could not independently verify the claim.
Two days of attacks this weekfirst targeting pagers and then walkie-talkies, have met their death at least 37 people and more than 3,000 wounded, including civilians. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israelwho has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono’s company came under fire after Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese firm, said it had given BAC Consulting permission to use its name on the pagers used in the first attack, but that the Hungarian company was responsible for their production and design.
A Hungarian government spokesman said Wednesday that the pagers delivered to Hezbollah were never in Hungary and that BAC Consulting acted only as an intermediary.
Beatrix Bársony-Arcidiacono, who also uses the name Beatrice, agreed.
“She was not involved in any way, she was just a broker. The items did not go through Budapest. … They were not produced in Hungary,” she said.
BAC Consulting shares the ground floor of a modest building in Budapest with numerous other companies, but has no physical offices and uses the space in the Hungarian capital – like the other companies based there – only as an official address, according to a woman who emerged from the building earlier this week and asked not to be named.
The company’s website said it specialized in “environment, development and international affairs.” Its business register listed 118 official functions, including sugar and oil production, jewelry retailing and natural gas extraction.
According to the company’s filing, it brought in $725,000 in revenue in 2022 and $593,000 in 2023. Last year, the company spent nearly $324,000, or about 55% of its revenue, on “equipment.”
The company’s website has been inaccessible since Wednesday.
Beatrix Bársony-Arcidiacono said her daughter was born in Sicily and studied there at the University of Catania before doing a Ph.D. in London. She worked in Paris and Vienna before moving to Budapest in October 2016 to care for her elderly grandmother.
In May 2022, she founded the company that is at the root of the mystery surrounding the pagers.
On social media, the young Bársony-Arcidiacono describes himself as a strategic advisor and business developer with a doctorate who has worked for major international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the humanitarian agency CARE, as well as for venture capital firms.
The 49-year-old received her Ph.D. from University College London, where she enrolled in the early to mid-2000s, according to her LinkedIn page. There, she worked with Ákos Kövér, a Hungarian physicist and now-retired professor, who confirmed her enrollment.
Kövér said of Bársony-Arcidiacono in an email to the AP: “At that time we also published some joint articles. I am not aware of her other activities, as far as I know she has not done any scientific work since then.”
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Spike reported from Budapest, Hungary. El Deeb reported from Beirut.
