A US billionaire is reportedly seizing the opportunity to profit off desperate Afghanistan evacuees by selling flights out of Kabul.
Tens of thousands of Afghans, Americans and foreign nationals desperately attempt to evacuate the country as the authoritarian Taliban regime returns to power.
Who is Erik Prince?
Erik Prince, 52, is an American businessman, former US Navy SEAL officer, and founder of the private military company Blackwater USA, now called Academi.
Prince served as Blackwater's CEO until 2009 when he sole the company to a group of investors in 2010.
The 52-year-old ran the private equity firm Frontier Resource Group and served as chairman of the Hong Kong-listed Frontier Services Group until 2021.
Prince is the son of engineer and businessman Edgar Prince – and brother of former US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
What is his net worth?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Prince's fortune reportedly stands at $2billion.
Blackwater is the largest private military company in the world today.
The company was awarded more than $1.6billion worth of federal contracts – while also reportedly receiving $600million worth of classified contracts from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) since 2001.
Is Erik Prince selling tickets for flights out of Afghanistan?
According to The Wall Street Journal, the billionaire US military contractor is reportedly charging $6,500 per ticket for flights out of Afghanistan on a chartered plane.
The mass evacuation out of the Middle East country comes as President Joe Biden pledged to meet the August 31 deadline to remove almost all American troops.
Despite pressure from other G7 leaders to allow more time for evacuations, the president is poised on his position.
“I’m determined to ensure that we complete our mission,” Biden said on August 24.
In the past 24 hours, the US and other countries have flown 19,200 people out of the international airport in Kabul, bringing the total number of evacuees so far to 82,300.
Prince has offered a privileged few of those people a way out – for a steep price.
According to Journal, the financier has advertised his flights at $6,500 per person, plus additional costs if the passenger needs help escaping their home and getting safely to the airport.
On August 25, when asked about Prince's diabolical scheme, White House press secretary Jen Psaki condemned the billionaire's actions.
"I don't think any human being who has a heart and soul would support efforts to profit off of peoples' agony and pain as they're trying to depart a country."
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