A YouTuber and online influencer is reportedly facing up to two decades in prison after a stunt he pulled in 2023.
Internet personality Suk Min “Alex” Choi celebrated July 4, 2023 by shooting a $300,000 Lamborghini with fireworks from a helicopter to entertain his 1 million YouTube subscribers, according to The Daily Beast. Prosecutors have charged the YouTuber with one count of causing the placement of an explosive or incendiary device on an aircraft.
Choi carried out his stunt partially on federal land, which raised the ire of the FAA, Department of Transportation (DOT) Inspector General’s Office, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and Bureau of Land Management, The Daily Beast reported.
Online influencer Suk Min “Alex” Choi managed to p*ss off the FAA, the Department of Transportation Inspector General’s Office, the Bureau of Land Management, and the ATF in the process.https://t.co/V67myzt5Np
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) June 6, 2024
The video, which was removed from YouTube, features “various dramatic action scenes,”according to the complaint.
“A female and male acting as police officers discuss going to find an individual who is speeding,” the complaint reads, describing the video. “The female is then shown getting into a helicopter. In subsequent clips, two females are seen onboard a helicopter, while the helicopter is airborne, and the females are holding and shooting fireworks out of the helicopter onto and towards a Lamborghini sportscar driving on the ground.”
The production then went into a “behind-the-scenes” segment, revealing how the video was created. Choi is “heavily featured … discussing various parts of filming, including: switching the type of fuel he puts into the Sportscar ‘whenever I’m doing crazy sh*t,” purportedly because of ‘less detonation:’ that he worked with the sponsoring camera company to shoot the ‘craziest Fourth of July video involving cars and fireworks,” the complaint reads. (RELATED: Indian Influencer Elvish Yadav Arrested For Allegedly Selling Snake Venom To Ravers: REPORT)
After the inspector issued a subpoena of Choi’s emails, they found messages related to the planning of the video, The Daily Beast reported.
The FAA inspector informed the DOT Office of Inspector General in December that he was launching an investigation into the internet celebrity, according to The Daily Beast. The video was believed to have been filmed in the El Mirage Dry Lakebed in San Bernardino County, California, which is administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
