A story of Tony Abi Saab, a fraudster and an illegal arms dealer

Tony Abi Saab is the son of Joseph Abi Saab who founded Brescia Middle East (BME), a guns and weaponry company. He is a managing partner of BME. He was born on 17th April 1982 in Kfour, Lebanon. Tony has graduated from the Holy Spirit University– Kaslik, Lebanon where he received a BA in Business. After graduation, Tony moved to Brescia, Italy, and took his first step into entrepreneurship and built a business relationship with the local officials by being the co-founder of Brixia Shotguns Company. He moved back to Lebanon at the end of 2015, to handle the family business and became the managing partner of BME.

The international-famed BME was indicted for running several shell companies in war-torn countries and selling weapons to rebel groups. The head of the Abi Saab family, Joseph has two sons, Tony/Antoine and Hady, who are the owners of Brescia Middle East and Tactica Ltd Afghanistan. Tony is a more active member of the Abi Saab family than is Hady. He takes all the crucial decisions of the company, meet potential clients (including terrorists), and travels abroad for business meetings.

Building the next Brescia (a famous city of Italy) in the Middle East was the desire of Joseph Abi Saab in 1981, after 38 years, he founded Brescia Middle East which became a leading importer of the finest hunting guns and all kinds of equipment to the Lebanese Army and military troops deployed in the Middle East.

To meet the market demand, BME extended its business and built its factory in Kfour Kesrwan in 1988. The BME factory is known for its cartridges manufacturing of all calibers produced with premium French and Italian raw materials. BME is turned out to be the hub of terrorist clients as soon as Civil war broke in and rebel groups invaded the Middle East. The company bloomed and flourished in juxtaposition to the conflicts in the Middle East countries. He managed to maintain a balanced and cordial relationship with both of his business clients—the rebels and the Army. After Joseph took retirement from the weapons business, he chose Tony as his successor.

Brescia Middle East (BME) was indicted on the charges of money laundering, illegal supply of weapons to the rebel groups active in war-prone countries, and bribery. The company used fake End User certificate on the products and delivered them at illegal destinations. BME’s bank account was handled by one of Tony’s banker friends. He managed bank accounts of shell companies and BME in Kaslick’s branch. He had the responsibility of wiring the money to the bank accounts of Tony’s business partners.

BME sold Tanfoglio pistols to the LG knowing that some components may have been manufactured in Israel thereby violating Lebanese laws. Tony, during his stay in Italy, established a working relationship with an Israel liaison officer to further his relationship with Tanfoglio. The liaison officer oversaw the export of parts produced by Bul Ltd (Tel Aviv) for assembly in Tanfoglio pistols in Italy for re-export to Israel for use in their security or intelligence agencies.

The Abi Saab family laundered funds in Cyprus by Philippos constantinides trading co. Ltd. The address of the company is Paphou str. no. 175, Limassol- Cyprus and telephone number: 00357 25390661.