ROME (AP) – A woman whose company is linked to thousands of pagers that went off in Lebanon and Syria this week is under Hungarian secret protection, her mother told The Associated Press on Friday.
Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono has not been seen in public since Tuesday’s attack by Hezbollah and which is widely blamed on Israel. He is listed as the CEO of Budapest-based BAC Consulting, the owner of a Taiwanese brand of pagers that claims to be responsible for the production.
Her mother, Beatrix Bársony-Arcidiacono, told the AP that her daughter had received unspecified threats and “is currently in a safe place protected by Hungarian secrets.”
“Hungarian intelligence has advised him not to talk to the media,” he said by phone 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 week, which first targeted pagers and then walkie-talkies, have killed at least 37 people and injured more than 3,000, including civilians. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government have blamed Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.
Cristiana Bársony-Arcidiacono’s company came under scrutiny after Gold Apollo, a Taiwanese company, said it authorized BAC Consulting to use its name on the pagers used during the first attack, but the Hungarian company was responsible for production and design.
On Wednesday, a Hungarian government spokesman said the pagers delivered to Hezbollah were never in Hungary, and that BAC Consulting only acted as a consultant.
Beatrix Bársony-Arcidiacono, who also goes by the name Beatrice, echoed that.
“He has nothing to do with it, he was just selling. Things did not go well in Budapest. … They were not produced in Hungary,” he said.
BAC Consulting shares the ground floor of a modest building in Budapest with many other businesses, but has no physical offices and uses the premises in the Hungarian capital – like other companies based there – only as an official address, according to a woman from Hungary. the building earlier this week and declined to be named.
The company’s website said it focuses on “environmental, development and international affairs.” The register of companies lists 118 official businesses including sugar and oil production, retail jewelry sales and natural gas drilling.
It brought in $725,000 in 2022 and $593,000 in 2023, according to the company’s filing. Last year, the company spent about $324,000, or about 55% of its revenue, on “equipment.”
The company’s website has been down since Wednesday.
Beatrix Bársony-Arcidiacono said her daughter was born in Sicily and attended the University of Catania there before pursuing 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, he put the company at the heart of the mystery of pagers.
On social media, the young Bársony-Arcidiacono describes himself as a strategic consultant and business developer with a doctorate who has worked for major international organizations such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the aid agency CARE, as well as building firms.
The 49-year-old woman received her Ph.D. from University College London, where he enrolled in the early 2000s, according to his LinkedIn page. There, he worked with Ákos Kövér, a Hungarian physicist and retired professor, who confirmed his enrollment.
Kövér said of Bársony-Arcidiacono in an email to AP: “At that time, we also published some joint articles. I don’t know his other works, as far as I know he hasn’t done any scientific work since then. “
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Spike reported from Budapest, Hungary. El Deeb reported from Beirut.