Jack Sweeney caught the public’s attention for the first time after creating a Twitter account dedicated to monitoring the private plane of Tesla founder Elon Musk. Now the teenage student has a new pet project involving another set of billionaires: publicizing the movements of private jets owned by Russian oligarchs.
“It would be nice to see one of their planes confiscated,” Sweeney, 19, told CBS MoneyWatch, discussing his Twitter account. @RUOligarchJetsor Russian Oligarch Jets.
Sweeney, a freshman at the University of Central Florida, said the bill is based on an algorithm he developed that uses publicly available jet ownership records and flight data to track about 30 private jets owned by Russian oligarchs.
The teenager said he was inspired to set up the service after the Russian attack Ukrainewhen people on social media asked him if he could use the algorithm used to track Musk to track the private planes of Russian oligarchs.
“People want to find these people and track down their assets and get their yachts and jets,” Sweeney said.
Since Sweeney launched the Russian oligarchs’ aircraft surveillance service, his Twitter account has grown to more than 340,000 followers.
The term “oligarch” – denoting a small group in the government that exercises control, usually for corrupt purposes – has been used to describe the extremely wealthy business elite in Russia whose wealth is suspected to have been acquired mainly through their political affiliations with members. government, including through the privatization of state-owned assets.
Here’s what it means to be an oligarch
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In his speech on the state of the Union, President Biden he said The United States and its allies are waging an economic war against Russian President Vladimir Putin over the country’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as Russian oligarchs believed to be backing him. The Ministry of Justice on Wednesday was announced the formation of a new special group that would target the oligarchs.
“We are working with our European allies to find and grab your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets. “We are coming for your illegal profits,” Biden said.
A Sweeney private jet monitors via Twitter account @PutinJetbelongs to Putin himself, although so far flight data only cover trips within Russia.
Other jets Sweeney monitors include owned aircraft Roman AbramovichThe Russian billionaire who said this week that he would sell the Chelsea football team and donate the proceeds to the victims of the invasion of Ukraine and Leonid Mickelson, managing director of Russia’s largest gas supplier.
“They have huge planes – some of them just keep flying, they don’t stop,” Sweeney said, noting that one of the planes is a commercial Boeing 787.
Owning and operating a Gulfstream GIV for private business use can cost between $ 30 million and $ 50 million a year, depending on the services of the hangar and whether it buys a new or used aircraft, according to Honeywell Aerospace. The private jet version of the Boeing 787 could cost more than $ 200 million, Business Insider reports.
Sweeney, who is studying information technology and intends to find a job in software engineering in the aviation industry, said he was not worried about his threats or security while in the United States. He said he would monitor more aircraft if he found their information.
As for Musk – who tops Bloomberg’s list of the richest people with an estimated fortune of $ 226 billion – Sweeney said he is still watching his plane. He also said that Musk offered him $ 5,000 to close the account, but he refused.
“I’m not going to download it for just $ 5,000,” he said, noting that he made a $ 50,000 counterpart or a Tesla. “He said he was not feeling well – then all the news came and he blocked me.”
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