The teenager who gained Internet fame for tracking Elon Musk’s jet is putting his skills to use once more, this time to monitor the private jets of Russian billionaires and tycoons.
Jack Sweeney’s new account has now drawn now has almost 225,000 followers as it automatically tracks the movement of private jets owned by a number of Russian oligarchs and their corporations.
Indeed, the movements of Russia’s ultra-wealthy have come under close monitoring not only by Mr Sweeney, but by many across the globe in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week.
Mr Sweeney, 19, a student at the University of Central Florida, who made headlines for tracking Tesla’s Elon Musk’s private jet, put up a new Twitter account @RUOligarchJet, to track the comings and goings of his Russian targets, including Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich and steel magnate Alexander Abramov.
Going by this Twitter tracker, Mr Abramovich recently went to Moscow; Baku (capital of Azerbaijan), St Kitts and Nevis, and Dubai. Mr Abramov has lately visited London, Seychelles, Antigua and Barbuda, and Abu Dhabi.
https://twitter.com/RUOligarchJets/status/1497739735753658371
Additionally, another of Mr Sweeney’s accounts, @PutinJet, went live on Saturday, Feb 26, although he tweeted this cautionary note: “Don’t expect this to be too accurate though, there are a dozen VIP Russian planes and ADS-B [Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast] coverage isn’t great in Russia.”
https://twitter.com/JxckSweeney/status/1497362271281958912
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the US announced that it would seek to freeze the western assets of 10 oligarchs who are close to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, and these assets would include their mansions and yachts.
However, although the sanctions were announced on Feb 24, Russian billionaires have still been able to move about freely on their private jets, Business Insider pointed out.
Furthermore, a number of the ultra-wealthy are now moving their yachts to places such as Montenegro and the Maldives, likely to prevent their being seized.
Apparently, many people are keen on finding out where Russian oligarchs are jetting off to.
Mr Sweeney said he was surprised at the number of people already following the @RUOligarchJet account, telling NBC, “It’s just been crazy. I just figured some people would be interested in it. I just didn’t think all kinds of people would be.”
The teenager was featured in the news in January after it was discovered that Elon Musk offered him US$5,000 to take down a Twitter account tracking his private jet.
Mr Sweeney owns 15 flight-tracking accounts that follow famous people, including Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and former US President Donald Trump.
/TISG
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