Yahoo Finance 19-year-old who irked Elon Musk explains why he’s taking on oligarchs
The teenager who annoyed Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk by posting the location of his private jet on Twitter (TWTR) is now taking on Russia’s oligarchs. And he’s not scared of Russian President Vladimir Putin or his cronies.
“We're here in the United States,” 19-year-old Jack Sweeney told Yahoo Finance. “If someone threatens me, I'm going to be protected.”
Sweeney first skyrocketed to social media fame in January with his Twitter account @ElonJet, a bot that posts the location of the Tesla CEO’s private jet. When Musk learned of the account, he offered Sweeney $5,000 to shut it down. Sweeney countered by first asking for $50,000, and then offering to drop the account in exchange for an internship at Tesla. Musk blocked him.
Now the teen is using his skills to target Russian oligarchs who are reportedly moving their private jets around to avoid Western authorities via his @RUOligarchJets and @PutinJet account.
“There were people asking me to do the oligarchs, so I did it,” Sweeney said. “I see there’s more value in it, especially [with] Biden saying we need to go after these people and their ill-gotten assets…If people are interested in doing that, then I can help with the whole effort.”
Like with Musk’s private jet, Sweeney has set up an account that tweets the location of the ADS-B, or automatic dependent surveillance, which broadcasts numbers of Putin's and oligarchs’ planes. ADS-B displays which planes are in the sky and where they’re going.
In other words, Sweeney isn’t using some kind of secret hack to find this data. He’s pulling it from public records, and making it easily digestible for everyday Twitter users, and, potentially, for federal investigators who want to get their hands on Russian jets.
Most of the jets, according to Sweeney, are not registered in Russia. As for where these plans are going, Sweeney says they’re moving around Russia, Dubai, and even the U.S.
The U.S. and its allies have already slapped economic sanctions against Russia and high-profile oligarchs, as well as Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. On Wednesday, the U.S. launched a task force called KleptoCapture, which will hunt down sanctioned people’s assets — including real estate and, of course, private jets.
“We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to investigate, arrest, and prosecute those whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue this unjust war,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement. “Let me be clear: if you violate our laws, we will hold you accountable.”
For his part, Sweeney hopes his new Twitter account helps uncover some of those assets.
“It seems like it might be helpful and people like it a lot,” he said.
As for Sweeney’s future plans, he’s going to finish out his education at the University of Central Florida, and then, he hopes, get a job in software engineering or aviation.
Of course, he’s not expecting a job offer from Musk. And those Russian oligarchs probably won’t come calling anytime, either.
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Got a tip? Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.
