The Strange Company At The Heart Of The Lebanon Pager Bomb Mystery

Forbes

BAC Consulting and its CEO don’t seem to have any background in electronics manufacturing. How did they end up involved in the Israel-Hezbollah war?   Read the full story on Forbes:https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2024/09/20/who-is-the-hungarian-company-implicated-in-the-lebanon-pager-bomb-mystery/   Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1   Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:   https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript   Stay Connected  Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com  Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes  Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes  Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes  More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com   Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, the strange company at the heart of the Lebanon pager bomb mystery.

00:08After pagers exploded across Lebanon on Tuesday in what appears to be an unprecedented act

00:13of sabotage by Israel, questions remain over how the country's vaunted spy agencies were

00:19able to infiltrate the Hezbollah supply chain to put booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies

00:24in the pockets of as many as 5,000 of its members.

00:29Among the most interesting is the role of BAC Consulting, the Budapest-based company

00:34apparently responsible for shipping the Taiwanese-branded pagers.

00:39Three intelligence officials told the New York Times that BAC was a front for Israeli

00:44intelligence, making it a crucial cog in the machine that led to the devastating attacks

00:49earlier this week.

00:51But what is BAC exactly?

00:53The Hungarian company, which offers a wide range of consulting services related to AI,

00:58quote, systemic leadership, and analysis of geospatial data, this all per its website,

01:05does not appear to have a history in electronics manufacturing.

01:09It was co-founded in 2019 by CEO Christiane Barsony-Arsidiocono and a Denmark-based business

01:15development consultant called Hansen, according to an archived version of the company website.

01:21Barsony-Arsidiocono and Hansen did not respond to a request for comment by the time this

01:26story was originally published.

01:29As the Financial Times reported, the company earned revenues of about $800,000 in 2023.

01:36On the company's website, there is little information about clients, though it does

01:39note BAC worked as an expert evaluator for the European Commission.

01:45But its work was vaguely described as, quote, evaluating various multilingual proposals

01:49according to various calls.

01:53Hungarian spokesperson Balazs Uzvari told Forbes it had, quote, no indication of any

01:58direct dealing with BAC, but that Barsony-Arsidiocono had worked as an external expert with the European

02:04Education and Culture Executive Agency for short time periods between 2021 and 2023.

02:12It's unknown if BAC has ever had any connection to Israel.

02:17Following the incident, a Hungarian government spokesperson tweeted, quote, authorities have

02:22confirmed that the company in question is a trading intermediary with no manufacturing

02:26or operational site in Hungary.

02:29The reference devices have never been in Hungary.

02:33Barsony-Arsidiocono told NBC earlier this week, quote, I don't make the pagers, I am

02:38just the intermediate.

02:39I think you got it wrong.

02:42Her background is in science and climatology.

02:46Forbes confirmed Barsony-Arsidiocono has degrees from University College London and a London-based

02:51School of Oriental and African Studies.

02:54And she was a postdoctoral researcher in climatology for the French National Centre for Scientific

02:59Research for a year.

03:01The BBC confirmed she also has a physics degree from the University of Catania in Italy.

03:07But her resume has a number of glaring inconsistencies.

03:11She claims on LinkedIn and her online CV to have been a project manager at the International

03:16Atomic Energy Agency, based out of the United Nations offices.

03:20And an IAEA spokesperson told Forbes she was actually an intern.

03:26She claims a degree in modern political thought and democratization from the London School

03:30of Economics and Political Science, but a school spokesperson told Forbes it didn't

03:34offer that kind of diploma when she was there.

03:38Barsony-Arsidiocono also said on LinkedIn she's on the board of the non-profit the Earth

03:42Child Institute, which told the BBC she, quote, is not and never has been an official member

03:48of the Earth Child Institute board of directors.

03:53How someone with such an extensive background in physics and climate science came to be

03:57embroiled in one of the most astonishing intel operations in recent memory remains a mystery.

04:03Reached over LinkedIn, one of Barsony-Arsidiocono's friends, who asked that his name not be mentioned

04:08for security reasons, said he had no knowledge of BAC's operations, but added, quote, I would

04:14be very surprised if she had knowingly become involved in this.

04:19It's not clear if BAC is involved in the second attack in Lebanon, in which walkie-talkies

04:23exploded spontaneously on Wednesday, a day after the Pager explosions.

04:29For full coverage, check out Thomas Brewster's piece on Forbes.com.

04:35This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:37Thanks for tuning in.

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