jack sweeney became famous for tracking online Elon Musk’s private jet, co-founder of PayPal, SpaceX and CEO of Tesla. The 19-year-old rejected an offer from the businessman of more than 4,400 euros to delete his Twitter account. Now the Florida teenager has a new target: Russian oligarchs and billionaires.
A few days ago it launched two new Twitter handles after Russia invaded Ukraine. These profiles are @RUOligarchJets and @Putinjetwhich already they have close to 300,000 followers between them. These profiles are dedicated to updating practically live the movements made by private planes together with map images showing their location.
Abramovich, a former Arsenal shareholder…
Sweeney assured the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal that people had asked him many times to open Twitter accounts like the ones he recently created. These requests, especially increased after the sanctions imposed by international organizations target the richest in Russia.
These oligarchs are suffering the consequences of the war in their country, facing not only the economic chaos that reigns in Russia these days, but also the sanctions that the West has imposed on them after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. Both the US and its allies have responded by establishing measures against wealthy people close to the Kremlin.
Among the accounts Sweeney has tracked are those of Roman Abramovichowner of Chelsea Football Club (a club he has put up for sale due to the war), of the businessman Alisher Usmanov (he has resigned as president of the International Fencing Federation due to the conflict and one of the largest shareholders of Arsenal Football Club until 2018) and of Leonid Michaelsonbillionaire chairman of Russian gas producer Novatek.
I would delete the account that tracks Musk in exchange for a Tesla
Sweeney, speaking to Bloomberg, has been surprised by the size of the planes of these oligarchs. “The planes they have are absolutely insane,” he has noted. “Their planes are huge compared to other jets“, he assured after observing that they travel in commercial-size planes like an Airbus A319 and a Boeing 737.
In total, their Twitter accounts they are tracking more than 40 aircraft, between planes and helicopters, related to Russian oligarchs, although he has asked for help from anyone who wants to contribute to increase the number of planes that can be tracked. What’s more, keeps active the one that tracks Elon Musk’s jet, which he will only eliminate in exchange for a new Tesla Model 3.