YouTuber who orchestrated plane crash sentenced to six months in prison

An expensive video. American YouTuber Trevor Jacob, who voluntarily organized the crash of his plane in November 2021 to film himself escaping by parachute, was sentenced to six months in prison for obstructing a federal investigation on Monday, December 4.

The video showed the extreme sports athlete ejecting from his plane over California, a selfie stick in hand, after an apparent technical problem. The incident was also filmed from every angle by cameras attached to the device.

This crash, viewed several million times on YouTube, was in reality orchestrated from A to Z by this experienced pilot. His goal was to promote a company with which he had signed a sponsorship contract, the US Department of Justice explained in a press release. In his video, the skydiver showed off a wallet made by his sponsor. He “most likely committed this offense in order to generate media and social media coverage for financial gain”estimated the prosecutors in charge of the case.

“An exceptional lack of judgment”

He later told authorities that he did not know where the plane had crashed. But the investigation revealed that he himself recovered the wreckage with a friend using a helicopter, before cutting the plane into small parts to throw it in trash cans.

The athlete, who represented the United States in snowboarding at the Sochi Winter Olympics (2014), also admitted to having lied by providing investigators with a false report, indicating that the plane had encountered a technical problem. The 30-year-old athlete faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for obstructing a federal investigation. Trevor Jacob “demonstrated an exceptional lack of judgment in committing this offense”denounced the prosecutors.