Teen who tracked Elon Musk’s jets is now exposing Russian oligarchs’ superyachts as they flee to ‘safe havens’
A TEENAGER who tracked Elon Musk’s jets has confirmed he is now exposing Russian oligarchs’ superyachts as they attempt to flee to “safe havens.”
Tech wonderkid Jack Sweeney made waves when he began tracking the Tesla Owner’s private plane in January - but is now using his refined skills to hone in on new targets.
The 19-year-old freshman, who studies at the University of Central Florida, confirmed that he is harnessing the power of social media to aid in the global efforts to sanction Russian cronies.
Using a series of Twitter bots – previously used to track famous frequent flyers including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos – he is now hoping to repeat the trick with boats.
At the time of writing, his three accounts have a combined following of more than 500,000 and utilises public data and series of algorithms.
The teen said he knew he could play his part after his earlier success and was greeted by a flurry of support when he first proposed the idea.
“At first I did it because people asked, but now I see there’s a lot more to it and I think it’s helpful,” he told the
The nifty breakthrough comes as the West continues to hit companies and oligarchs at the heart of Putin’s brutal regime with sanctions worth billions of pounds, asset freezes and travel bans.
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Last week’s data from Marine Traffic revealed at least four yachts owned by Russian tycoons were cruising around the Seychelles, Montenegro and the Maldives.
President Joe Biden specifically named yachts when he warned oligarchs backing Russian President Vladimir Putin that sanctions were coming for them.
“We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets,” Biden said during the State of the Union last week.
“We are coming for your ill-begotten gains.”
On Saturday, AP reported that it was tracing the movements of some 56 super-yachts believed to be owned by “Kremlin-aligned” Russian oligarchs.
The outlet reinforced previous data that showed that more than a dozen of the vessels had chosen to settle down in remote small ports due to their extradition status with the US.
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Some yachts, however, have since been seized thanks to the aid of EU approved sanctions – a week after France began drawing up a list of Russian owned properties.
On Thursday, the Sun reported that a superyacht belonging to Putin ally Igor Sechin had been seized by French authorities.
They announced on Thursday that the mammoth vessel, nicknamed "Amore Vero", or True Love, was being held in the port of La Ciotat.
It came after Alisher Usmanov had his £600million luxury vessel – thought to be largest yacht in the world in terms of internal volume – taken away by German authorities.
Usmanov had already been slapped with an EU travel ban and had his assets frozen as part of the tough EU sanctions.
Russia’s richest man, Alexei Mordashov, was the next to fall after his £45 million ship was seized by Italian cops at the northern harbour of Imperia.
The steel billionaire was believed to be in the Seychelles this week after reportedly sailing from the Maldives.
However, it remains unclear why the Russian would be moving his yachts to the Seychelles as it has an extradition treaty with the US and other countries.
According to , the latest sightings included Putin pal, Viktor Medvedchuk, who has his £152 million yacht docked in Croatia.
The Ukrainian oligarch, who is thought to be Vlad’s first choice to head a puppet government, fled house arrest when the Russian invasion began.
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This week, current Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to fight Vladimir Putin, warning that the Russian President will want “more” if Ukraine falls.
Zelenskyy repeated his plea for the US and other countries to clear the way for Soviet-era fighter aircraft for his military and to enforce a no-fly zone over the country.
