In 1989 he founded Alp Services SA, a private investigation business, focusing on banks, law firms and wealthy clients with "advice, support, strategic guidance, diplomatic intermediation and organisation in crisis management and image reputation" and with "national and international investigations and inquiries, notably commercial and financial, in combating money laundering, counterfeiting, parallel markets, economic and/or computer crime; surveillance and protection of individuals and companies, crisis and risk management, asset searches, due diligence, auditing.
After his methods became public and he was sentenced by a French court in 2014, Alp services focused on reputation management by spreading negative information for his clients from the former Soviet Union, VIPs from small African states, and most notably the UAE, such that Le Monde called it a "destabilization and surveillance company".
In 2021, his firm was hacked and the results published in 2023 as Abu Dhabi Secrets, how Alp Services was contracted by the UAE government to spy on citizens of 18 countries in Europe and beyond.
[13][14][15] Despite not receiving a substantial judgement, Brero's actions drove away many above-board firms and increasing the number of less-scrupulous clients: oligarchs from the former Soviet Union, other billionaires from Eastern Europe, VIPs from small African states like Gabon, and the Middle East.
[18] In March 2023, the Abu Dhabi Secrets, two major investigations into the missions conducted by Alp Services SA, were published in the French, American, Suisse, German, Spanish and Dutch press.
[5] Among Brero's targets, journalists mention Sihem Souid[19] - former policewoman and socialist ministerial advisor, now a communicator and lobbyist for Qatar in France - whose Paris house was photographed by Brero's agents, just before it was broken into; the reputation and business intelligence consultancy Avisa Partners;[19] Hazim Nada and his oil trading company Lord Energy SA; the association Islamic Relief Worldwide; the Tunisian politician Kamel Jendoubi.
When in August, 2017, Brero persuaded the Emiratis to hire him to deliver the "power of dark PR" with "an initial four-to-six-month budget of a million and a half euros", Jacquard received his commission.
[2] A leak of information from Alp Services, revealed in 2021 by Heidi.news, showed that Mario Brero instigated press articles designed to ruin the reputation of Geneva prosecutor Yves Bertossa at the request of Corinna Larsen, known to have been the mistress of Spanish King Juan Carlos I.
[2] According to El Pais [25][26] and The Times,[27] Larsen signed the contract with Alp Services shortly after Swiss prosecutor Bertossa charged her in 2018 with an alleged money laundering crime.
[29] According to information from Agence France-Presse (AFP), Mediapart, and Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), French and Swiss prosecutors have launched three judicial investigations targeting Alp Services SA and its directors, Mario Brero and Muriel Cavin.
[30] The journalist, author, and director, Rokhaya Diallo, filed a complaint for “illicit collection, processing and disclosure of personal data” after she was associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
Following the Abu Dhabi Secrets, in December 2023, the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office (MPC) brought together several open procedures into a single investigation, suspecting Mario Brero and his associate Muriel Cavin of committing six crimes.
[34] According to The New Yorker, on January 24, 2024, Hazim Nada, an American citizen, filed a lawsuit against Mario Brero, Muriel Cavin, and the United Arab Emirates in the U.S. district court in Washington, D.C.
The complaint notes that the rulers of the United Arab Emirates conducted their campaign by hiring Alp Services to crush his company, Lord Energy, for commercial reasons.
Alleging a conspiracy to commit fraud, to spread false and derogatory information about Lord Energy, and to manipulate markets, the suit seeks $2.7 billion in damages and compensation.