Author: openjargon

• Stronger hurricanes are growing more frequent and causing more damage to US coastal cities.
• As a coastal engineer, Jens Figlus works to protect coastlines from these threats.
• He lives in Texas, which was ravaged by Hurricane Harvey. But his home was safe because it sits 16 feet above sea level.

Jens Figlus vividly recalls the day hurricane-driven floodwaters surged into his neighborhood.

"People across the street were airlifted off their roofs with helicopters," he said. But Figlus, his family, and property were unharmed.

"We were basically sitting in the living room with power, internet, everything — watching boats go by in our street," he told Business Insider.

While this scene is from 2017, when Hurricane Harvey ripped through Texas and Louisiana killing over 100 people, Figlus' secret to saving his family and property is more relevant than ever this year.

2024 may be the worst hurricane season in history

A coastal engineer at Texas A&M University, Figlus is an expert on flooding. He's acutely aware that climate change is driving sea level rise and making dangerous storms like Hurricane Harvey more common. And this year is looking like it could be an especially bad one.

This week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its first hurricane forecast for this year's season. It predicts that an unprecedented 17 to 25 named storms could ravage the North Atlantic this hurricane season, and potentially make landfall in the US. Other scientists from the University of Pennsylvania predicted an even higher number — 33 named storms — in April, which is the highest storm count ever forecasted.

Altogether, the data suggests that 2024 could be one of the worst hurricane seasons in history. Meanwhile, a different team of scientists argued earlier this year that we need to add a Category 6 to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale to account for the growing severity of hurricanes and better inform people of what's headed their way.

Coastal cities, like Houston, are especially vulnerable. What's more, Houston is one of the fastest-growing US cities. Between 2022 and 2023, Houston had the second-largest population growth in the nation, welcoming roughly 140,000 new residents, according to the US Census Bureau.

"People that move to this area typically are not familiar with the type of hazards that they're putting themselves in front of — the flooding, primarily," Figlus said of Houston.

During Harvey, the development Figlus lives in ended up being "locked out from the rest of civilization for five days, just because of floodwaters" he said. "But not my house."

What's Figlus' secret? "Elevation matters," he said. Figlus and his family live up on a ridge that's 16 feet above sea level. It's the highest point in their development, he said. Thanks to their elevation, the floodwaters couldn't reach them.

He knew that living in the greater Houston area meant his family's home would be vulnerable to flooding, but because of his work, he has to live near the coast. He's 25 miles north of the Gulf Coast, and 10 miles west of Galveston Bay.

That's why elevation was an important factor in his home-buying process. But you don't have to be a coastal engineer to make a well-informed choice when shopping for a home in a flood zone.

How to assess flood risk

When shopping for homes in an area that's vulnerable to flooding, like the greater Houston area, it's often up to homebuyers to assess the risk, Figlus said.

"The risk to the potential homebuyer may not be disclosed," he said. "And the developer doesn't have any incentive to tell people, 'Here's the risk, let me outline it for you.'"

Even as Texas faces more frequent and intense hurricanes, Figlus doesn't expect that developers will stop building homes in high-risk areas. He also doesn't expect to see fewer people moving to Texas despite increased flooding.

He only hopes prospective homebuyers will try to make well-informed decisions about where they live, like he did.

"If you spend a little bit of time, you can actually make some smart decisions related to the flooding hazards," Figlus said.

Asking the seller about the history of flooding in the area is a good place to start. If you need more information, use the FEMA Flood Map Service Center to look up the address of your potential new home. This online service provides a detailed breakdown of flooding risk in a given area.

You can also consider purchasing flood insurance. That way, even if your home does flood, you're financially protected. But before purchasing your own policy, ask the seller if they already have flood insurance. In some cases, they can transfer their policy directly to the new owner.

All in all, Figlus thinks people can still live in flood zones relatively safely, as long as they understand the risks.

"With a little bit of additional knowledge, and due diligence, and asking the right questions of the right people, you can make this work really well," he said.

• It's been two weeks since Marjorie Taylor Greene tried to oust the speaker.
• No one on Capitol Hill seems to care.
• The "motion to vacate" has seemingly lost its shock value.

Two weeks ago, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene forced the House to vote on a motion to remove Speaker Mike Johnson from his job.

It was only the third time in American history that such a vote had taken place, and the result was without recent precedent: most Democrats voted with all but 11 Republicans to protect Johnson's job, despite the speaker's own hard-right politics and loyalty to Donald Trump.

From the perspective of the Georgia congresswoman, the so-called "uniparty" had been exposed once and for all. And then, everyone promptly moved on.

"There's always gonna be another wreck on the interstate," said Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, saying Greene's oust bid got "some publicity in the beginning, and now it's gone."

The only Republican in Washington who still seems eager to talk about it is the Georgia congresswoman herself.

"I do not support [Johnson's] leadership at all, and a lot of people don't," Greene told a gaggle of reporters on the House steps on Friday, letting out a grim laugh.

Yet moments earlier, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas — one of the few Republicans who voted to allow debate on Greene' motion — told me that he hadn't heard much of anything from his own constituents about his vote. He also sought to downplay the whole thing as a media obsession.

"I'm working with the speaker, working with the leadership team, to move things that we very much agree on," said Roy. "90% of Americans don't give a crap about any of this stuff that — with all due respect — you guys talk about all the time. I mean, they're focused on 'what are you delivering?' That vote was a was a statement or a proxy, if you will, on our lack of delivery."

In other words, the vote was mostly symbolic.

A former chief of staff to Sen. Ted Cruz, Roy is among the more eloquent of the GOP conference's hard-right faction. He's been dissatisfied with the way things have been going for a long time, and has argued — just as Greene has — that GOP leadership hasn't fought hard enough for conservative priorities in government funding bills. Johnson and his defenders counter that there's only so much that can be done with a slim House majority versus a Senate and White House that are both controlled by Democrats.

Other Republicans who voted to advance Greene's motion were much more likely to hedge when I asked them why they took those votes, insisting that they merely wanted to see a proper debate on the issue — or that they were voting against the dreaded "uniparty."

"I did not at that moment think that this was the wisest thing to do," said Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri. "But when forced to make that vote, I couldn't — honestly, my stomach was turning — I just could not in good conscience vote with Democrats to vote down one of my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle, her privileged motion."

"I was not sent up here to be the most bipartisan member," Burlison added. "People want me to save America."

"I think I'm pretty 'based' as far as like… I mean, I'm a pretty consistent conservative," said Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama, who told me he "probably would not" have voted to throw Johnson out. "I don't get out and get into media too much, but I vote my convictions, and my district loves that."

"My voters didn't send me up here to make friends. They sent me up here to change the way this town works, so that's why I cast my vote the way I did," said Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona, adding that he "didn't think it was a good time" to hold that vote.

Motions to vacate have only been filed four times in American history, and the first three times were pretty dramatic.

In 1910, then-House Speaker Joseph Cannon called the motion himself, daring his own members to vote against him. The effort failed, demonstrating the weakness of his opposition.

In 2015 — though there was never a formal vote on the matter — hard-right House Republicans filed a motion to vacate against Speaker John Boehner, helping to spur his resignation.

October 2023 saw the first successful motion to vacate in American history, in which the antipathy of Democrats and the machinations of Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida came together to spur the ouster of Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

By contrast, this month's motion to vacate seemed to be largely an afterthought, perhaps even a face-saving measure for a rank-and-file congresswoman who had overestimated her power. After Johnson allowed the passage of Ukraine aid, Democrats decided to protect him from Greene's looming ouster bid, effectively neutering the whole effort.

The Georgia congresswoman, after two days of meetings with Johnson and her co-conspirator Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, seemed to be dithering on the whole effort. In an eventual surprise twist, she forced the vote on a Wednesday afternoon, shortly before everyone left town for the weekend.

This dysfunction of the current Congress has rendered a variety of previously rare occurrences — like motions to censure individual House members or voting against your own party's procedural votes — as banal, perhaps even par for the course.

The motion to vacate may simply be the latest victim.

• Trump claims he alone can secure Evan Gershkovich's release from Russia if reelected.
• The WSJ reporter has been jailed in Russia on disputed espionage charges since March last year.
• The Kremlin denies any contact with Trump on the matter.

Donald Trump claimed that only he would be able to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to release Evan Gershkovich, the jailed Wall Street Journal reporter.

Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump said: "Evan Gershkovich, the Reporter from The Wall Street Journal, who is being held by Russia, will be released almost immediately after the Election, but definitely before I assume Office."

"He will be HOME, SAFE, AND WITH HIS FAMILY."

"Vladimir Putin, President of Russia will do that for me, but not for anyone else and WE WILL BE PAYING NOTHING!"

But when asked about the former Republican president's remarks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitrii Peskov said, "Naturally, Putin has no contacts with Donald Trump," Russian state-run news agency TASS reported.

"As for communication on the issue of persons in custody, convicts, we can state once again what we have repeatedly said, that these talks must be carried out in complete silence and in an absolutely covert manner," the Kremlin spokesman said.

"This is the only way to make them effective."

A spokesperson for Trump's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Gershkovich, a US citizen, was arrested in Russia in March last year on spying charges that he, his paper and the Biden administration have all strongly denied.

He has spent over a year in Moscow's Lefortovo prison, and no date has been set for his trial.

Gershkovich appealed his arrest in April, but it was denied by the court judge. The court also rejected an offer from The Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones to post a bond of 50,000,000 roubles ($600,000).

"Evan is wrongfully detained, and the charges of espionage against him are false," the leaders of The Journal and Dow Jones said in a statement. "We demand his immediate release and are doing everything in our power to secure it."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has previously said the US was "intensely engaged with the Russians" for Gershkovich's release, though he cautioned that there wasn't "a clear way forward."

During an interview with Tucker Carlson in February, Putin said he believed an agreement could be reached, though he reiterated Russia's claim Gershkovich was carrying out espionage.

Other prisoner swaps between Russia and the US have been carried out in recent years, including a deal for basketball star Brittney Griner in 2022 in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

This isn't the first time Trump claimed Russia would release Gershkovich for him. In an interview with Time Magazine, Trump, who has consistently said he and Putin "get along very well," said Gershkovich "should be released and he will be released."

"I don't know if he's going to be released under Biden," Trump said.

During his 2017-2021 presidency, Trump expressed admiration for Putin. In 2018, the former president refused to accuse the Russian leader of meddling in the 2016 US election, going against the findings of US intelligence agencies at the time.

Trump has also made bold claims that he could end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of returning to the White House, though he has not said how he would do this.

• After college, I ennrolled in a Ph.D. program I wasn't actually interested in. 
• I eventually dropped out of the program so that I could focus on my husband and being a mother. 
• I am now pregnant, and I'm so happy with my decision.

In high school, I knew college would be an important step toward success and a career. Nonetheless, my deeper desires involved finding "the one" — friends-to-lovers style.

I had a full scholarship to the college of my dreams, but I quickly shifted focus from my studies to my personal development. I wanted to know more about myself than my classes.

And that's what I did. I created a podcast with my friends. I fell in love with my best friend and got my friends-to-lovers romance. We even got married in college. I also discovered my passion for mental health.

But by the end of my senior year, reality started to set in. I became so fearful of graduation because I had no job prospects or future plans. I suddenly realized I would become a stay-at-home wife, and that terrified me even more.

To avoid that, I desperately searched for a career and enrolled in a graduate program I wasn't interested in.

I quickly lost interest in my Ph.D. program

I was among a small number of students who were able to get into a Ph.D. program directly from undergrad.

I was an academic in training, which meant having two part-time jobs, doing side research projects, and attending class. I saw my husband less, but he supported the sacrifice as long as I got what I wanted. I started working at 8 a.m. and finished around 7 p.m. I worked on the weekends, too.

The Pinterest-inspired home I hoped to have would have required my creativity and time, both of which are limited resources when you're running the career race. So, we kept the white walls, with no time to hang the framed pictures of our wedding day.

I started therapy during this time, and I was forced to address the fear and anxiety that had pushed me to jump head-first into a career I wasn't sure about. Toward the end of my first semester, I knew this career was not for me. I wasn't able to invest in my marriage. I wasn't able to write creatively on topics that mattered. I wasn't becoming who I wanted to be.

So, I left the program, prompting everyone in my life to wonder why I would leave a school that would earn me the highest degree you can get in academics.

I chose to be a wife and mother instead

After leaving my program, I felt relief, then sadness, and then relief again. Undergrad was about becoming myself, but graduate school showed me the realities of unbecoming — unbecoming a perfectionist, unbecoming a planner, and unbecoming a high-achiever. The pain of unbecoming had given me the freedom to change.

When I let go of grinding toward a career, I learned about my desire to be a mother. I wanted to share the beauties of the world with someone else, someone I created. Now, I'm pregnant.

When I let go of the negative connotations of being a stay-at-home wife, I realized my desire to make my home into a creative and comfortable space. So, I created it. When I let go of the fear of being a wife, I saw my husband as a compassionate, servant, and loving person who needed it in return. Now, I give love freely. When I let go of the fear of people seeing me as wasted potential, I found writing again. So, I write.

This is not what I expected for my post-graduation life, but my life is both better and different than my expectations.

In the year after graduation, I've learned that becoming's shadow is unbecoming. They exist together. The becoming is full of excitement and hope. The unbecoming is full of pain, truth, and even fear. But there's hope on the horizon.

• Russia has deployed Africa Corps units to aid its offensive in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, UK Intel says.
• The Africa Corps, created in December 2023, includes former Wagner Group mercenaries.
• Russia is currently advancing on two fronts in Ukraine's east, and in the northern Kharkiv region.

Russian units from the Ministry of Defense's Africa Corps are now fighting in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, according to the latest UK Defense Intelligence update.

Moscow "has deployed units from the Russian MOD's Africa Corps alongside regular Russian forces and Storm-Z units during their offensive on Vovchansk, northern Khrakiv," the UK Ministry of Defence said on X.

The Africa Corps, which emerged in December 2023, is made up of over 2,000 regular soldiers and officers. The Corps also contains "experienced mercenaries, many of whom previously served in the Wagner Group," the tweet said.

After the demise of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin last year in a plane crash that many believe to have been ordered by the Kremlin, the Wagner Group has become "marginalized" and "de facto" subordinated to Russia's defense ministry.

"The fighters will do what they are told" by the ministry, Sergey Sukhankin, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, previously told Business Insider.

Russia's MoD created the Africa Corps in an attempt to assume greater control over the group's remaining fighters.

The military formation has been actively recruiting former Wagner Group mercenaries and soldiers who fought in Ukraine for combat operations in Africa.

In a Telegram post in February, it promised an unspecified "high monetary" allowance, payments in foreign currency, service under "competent commanders" with extensive combat experience, and medical care and social benefits.

"Wagner fighters likely have little loyalty to the company itself after Prigozhin's demise and would be willing to fight for whichever Kremlin-backed organization that exists in Africa," Raphael Parens, a fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Eurasia Program, previously told BI.

"These mercenaries care about the bottom line rather than an ideological alignment with Prigozhin," he said.

The Africa Corps' appearance in Ukraine is a clear sign that Russia is both consolidating its control over the remains of the Wagner Group and "reinforcing its war on Ukraine with resources previously assigned to Africa," the UK intelligence report stated.

Russia "almost certainly" redeployed detachments from its Africa Corps to the Ukrainian border in April 2024 in preparation for its Kharkiv offensive.

Despite earlier reports that claimed Moscow was hoping to take Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, Putin said last week that Russia was only planning on creating a buffer zone to protect the Russian border town of Belgorod.

• A British-Chinese woman has been sentenced to more than six years in prison for money laundering.
• Police seized 61,000 bitcoins — now worth more than $4 billion — from Jian Wen's home in 2018. 
• Authorities were alerted when Wen attempted to buy luxury London homes valued at more than $50 million.

A British-Chinese woman has been sentenced to more than six years in prison for her part in a bitcoin money laundering scam.

Jian Wen, 42, was initially found guilty at London's Southwark Crown Court on March 20, the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said in a press release at the time.

She was sentenced to 80 months in prison on Friday.

Wen first came to the attention of authorities after she made a series of attempts to buy luxury homes in London from 2017 to 2018. The three properties were valued at £23.5 million ($29.7 million), £12.5 million ($15.8 million), and £4.5 million ($5.7 million).

The subsequent investigation culminated in police seizing devices containing 61,000 bitcoins — currently worth more than $4 billion — in 2018, in what was the UK's largest-ever crypto seizure.

The funds are said to have come from an investment fraud operation in China led by her "employer," Yadi Zhang.

In her sentencing remarks, Judge Sally-Ann Hales, KC, said that more than 128,000 investors pumped 40 billion Renminbi (roughly $5.6 billion) into the scheme.

"Some of the proceeds of this fraud were exchanged for bitcoin, loaded onto a cryptocurrency wallet and smuggled out of China on a laptop," she added.

According to the CPS press release, Wen was convicted of converting "significant amounts" of the bitcoin into cash and other assets on her boss's behalf.

Despite declaring an income of just £12,800 (around $16,200) and £5,979 (roughly $7,600) in 2015 and 2016, Wen moved into a six-bedroom property in London in 2017, paying over £17,000 (around $21,600) a month.

Wen and her boss claimed to run an international jewelry business, with Wen acting as the "front person." They also paid for Wen's son to move to the UK from China to attend a private school and purchased two properties in Dubai.

But her attempts to purchase extravagant London homes triggered anti-money laundering checks, and the sales stalled as she could not explain the source of the funds.

Wen was not accused of involvement in the original fraud, but Hales told Wen that she was "in no doubt that by 22 June 2019, you knew, rather than merely suspected, that you were dealing in the proceeds of crime."

In March, Andrew Penhale, chief prosecutor, said: "Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are increasingly being used by organized criminals to disguise and transfer assets so that fraudsters may enjoy the benefits of their criminal conduct."

"This case, involving the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the UK, illustrates the scale of criminal proceeds available to those fraudsters," he added.

• President Biden passed a law allowing private aircraft owners to further cloak their travels
• The new law would expand on the FAA's already-in-place efforts to reduce jet tracking.
• People have taken to tracking Elon Musk and Taylor Swift's jets over the past few years.

The days of celebrity jet-tracking might be nearing an end.

Tucked away in the 1,100-page FAA reauthorization, signed into law by President Joe Biden on May 16, is a section on data privacy that would allow private aircraft owners to further cloak their travels.

The language calls for the FAA to set up a system that would allow private plane owners to request their data be withheld from public sites, fly under a temporary registration number to obscure their flight data, and block "similar identifiable data or information, except physical marking required by law" from public dissemination.

Currently, private jet owners like Elon Musk and Taylor Swift can opt for two federal programs: the Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed, or LADD, list, and the Privacy ICAO address, or PIA, to help shadow their aircraft from public view.

However, the new law appears to allow PIA applicants to travel internationally, while owners had previously been required to swap out their PIA code when traveling outside the US. It could also potentially further reduce the number of identifying characteristics that would be publicly available regarding the users' aircraft and flight information, though it's unclear what that would look like.

Jet-tracking mogul and college student Jack Sweeney, who rose to fame after Musk offered him $5,000 to stop tracking his private plane and posting its movements online, says the new law may not fully disguise private aircraft.

"Let this be said that this doesn't prevent us from tracking jets," he said on X shortly after the bill was passed by Congress. "We can still figure out who's who via context clues."

Prior to the law's passing, the LADD and PIA programs were used by myriad businesspeople and celebrities to cloak their travels, but they weren't a silver bullet.

LADD and PIA prevented an owner's flight information from showing up on websites that use FAA data, like FlightAware or FlightRadar24, but the information can be found via third parties.

For example, publicly available software like ADS-B Exchange, which uses volunteer radios to track things like altitude and airspeed, and context clues mean the FAA programs can't prevent all jet tracking.

"Elon Musk, for example, has a Gulfstream, and there's only so many people that fly that particular plane out of Brownsville, Texas, and fly to the same airports," Sweeney, who is still running celebrity jet-tracking accounts on social media, told Business Insider in 2022.

An FAA spokesperson said the agency "will comply with the requirements in the legislation."

Mark Dombroff, a partner and aviation attorney at Fox Rothschild LLP and a former FAA lawyer, told Business Insider that the law is a sign that the government is finally responding to the security concerns celebrities like Musk have been dealing with over the past few years.

"Congress is basically giving the FAA a mandate around the level of safety they want to be able to achieve," Dumbroff said. "It's up to the FAA to find the means to reach that end result."

"I think what really has to happen is the availability of the information and the manner in which it's being used needs to be fine-tuned," he added.

• Ukraine is using US Stryker vehicles to counter Russia's Kharkiv offensive, report says.
• Ukrainian forces recaptured small amounts of territory near Vovchansk in the northeastern region.
• The Ukrainian fightback is being led by the elite 82nd Air Assault Brigade.

US Stryker armored fighting vehicles are helping Ukraine battle Russia's push into the embattled northeastern region of Kharkiv, the Kyiv Post reported.

Ukrainian forces recently recaptured territory near the city of Vovchansk in the region, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank. It cited geolocated footage published on May 22.

Vovchansk has been the scene of fierce fighting in recent days as Russia continues its attempts to drive Ukrainian forces back from the border with Belgorod Oblast.

Sources told the Kyiv Post that the Ukrainian fightback in the area was being led by the elite 82nd Air Assault Brigade, with support from special forces — and the US-supplied Strykers.

Leaked military documents from last year showed that the powerhouse 82nd unit is one of Ukraine's best equipped, with around 150 armored infantry carriers, including 90 Strykers and 14 British Challenger tanks, per Politico.

The brigade was kept in reserve until August last year when it was finally sent into battle around Robotyne in the region of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine to support the counteroffensive, which ended in disappointment for Kyiv.

A video posted online by the 82nd Air Assault Brigade appears to show the Strykers in action in Vovchansk.

According to the manufacturer, General Dynamics, Strykers come in 10 variants, including an infantry carrier, a reconnaissance, and a mobile gun system.

They can hit a top speed of 62.5 mph and have a cruising range of 330 miles.

The vehicles first saw action with the US Army during Operation Iraqi Freedom, with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team (BCT) arriving in Iraq in 2003.

The eight-wheeled infantry transporter proved highly effective in urban warfare and quickly earned praise for its operational mobility and command-and-control network.

In 2017, Theodore Kleisner, then a lieutenant colonel who had served as a company commander in the 3rd BCT in Iraq, praised the Stryker: "We used Strykers to maneuver around and to stop bullets. We stayed in them until we thought we were at a point where we needed to establish dominance of terrain."

Stryker BCT, Maj. Walter Gray II, in a 2017 study, noted that Strykers built a positive reputation among soldiers for their "maneuverability, speed, and quiet operation," saying that they were "favorable for raids, patrolling, and cordon-and-search operations in the urban streets of Mosul."

"The Iraqis began calling the Strykers 'Ghost Riders' because they were so quiet," he added.

• The private tutoring industry is valued at $62 billion. 
• Private tutors for ultrawealthy families can earn huge sums.
• For many wealthy families, tutoring is a "status symbol," but the lack of regulation is a concern.

A wealthy family wants to hire a private tutor for their two young children. The position includes a minimum annual salary of $180,000, nine weeks of annual vacation, and accommodation and travel expenses. However, it comes with a demanding list of job responsibilities.

The successful candidate must be artistic, provide singing lessons, and play the piano. The tutor also needs to speak Italian, with good French and German, know how to ski, play soccer, do judo, and ride horses, and demonstrate a keen interest in motorsports.

The role includes extensive travel in Europe, the Middle East, and the US alongside bodyguards and executive assistants.

The UK-based tutoring agency Tutors International, searching for the highly lucrative tutoring role, has been described as the "Dom Perignon" of the industry.

Adam Caller started the company in 1999, but it wasn't until 2003 that he inked his first "gigantic" contract.

"In 2001, we thought charging a client £28,000 ($35,000) a year was a lot of money," Caller told Business Insider. "In 2003, I was personally offered a job by a client for £300,000 ($380,000)."

"I didn't appreciate how valuable our service was to families like that until they told me themselves."

Caller described his clients as "ultra-high-net-worth" families. He said 90% of potential clients say "money is no object" when selecting a tutor.

"They are very exacting," Caller said. "They need to know I'm listening and will deliver on my promises."

Jerome Barty-Taylor, the owner of another private tutoring business based in Hong Kong, previously told BI that "you're expected to be available whenever and wherever your clients want you to be."

"When I first started working in Hong Kong, a parent wanted to meet me at an airport lounge to talk about his child over Champagne because we both had flights that evening. For him, it was the most efficient use of time."

Tutoring has become a "status symbol"

Current estimates put the global private tuition market at $62.08 billion. It is expected to grow to $132.21 billion by 2032.

It is no surprise that hundreds of agencies are seeking a piece of the pie, from everyday sites like MyTutor or SuperProf to elite private agencies that often hire exclusively from pools of ex-private school pupils and Oxford and Cambridge University or Ivy League grads.

One instructor who worked for an elite international tutoring agency in various places across Europe told BI that they had stumbled across the agency during their time at Oxford, where, along with Cambridge, the company does the majority of its hiring.

"I was shocked that they could charge so much for classes," they said, adding that an hour of tuition would set a client back upwards of $150.

"What was most surprising was that I had no formal training or experience, and yet because I had been to Oxford and spoke with a good English accent, clients would willingly dish out that sort of cash," they said.

One tutor who works with some of Dubai's richest families told BI that sometimes, the parents would start a bidding war with one another to secure the service of a favorite tutor.

"If they knew I would be at one client's house at a time they wanted, they would offer to pay double, triple, or even more to convince me to come to them instead," he said.

For the elite, tutoring has become a "status symbol," says Mark Bray, UNESCO Chair Professor in Comparative Education at the University of Hong Kong.

"There is also a herd effect," Bray told BI. "When everybody else seems to be investing in tutoring, it seems wise to go with the crowd, at least as an insurance policy.

"Schools may assume that children are receiving tutoring. In this case, parents need to invest in it to avoid being left behind," Bray said.

The elites don't just hope that tutors will teach their children. They also hope that a tutor will impart values.

"For the ultra-rich, education isn't just about books. It's about maintaining values," Barty-Taylor, the Hong Kong-based tutor, said.

"That's so their children don't fall prey to the curse of 'one generation to make it, and one generation to spend it.'"

Caller said he is "unforgiving" when it comes to selecting tutors for his demanding clients, and competition for the exclusive roles is intense.

For the position Caller is currently advertising, he has received over 200 applications. He said he will likely interview three or four of these and will put two forward to the client.

With the many perks that such tutoring positions come with, it's no surprise.

"There are such brilliant opportunities to travel! You get to a glimpse into a life of luxury that you wouldn't otherwise have access to. And having accommodation paid for as well meant I was able to save far more than my peers back in London," a tutor, who spent a year working in Russia and Monaco told BI.

She said she would regularly tutor children in enormous luxury mansions, was driven around by private drivers in blacked-out cars, and was pestered by the family's nannies, who would endlessly offer her drinks and food.

"These kids had personal massage therapists and private helicopters. It was insane," she said.

The Dubai-based tutor said he had received tips of over $20,000.

But Lee Elliot Major, a professor of Social Mobility at the University of Exeter, warned that tutoring could be "education's dark side."

"Graduates from elite universities are often making a Faustian pact: serving the wealthy to pay their post‐graduation debts," he said. "Tutoring has become necessary to make ends meet for graduates trying to forge careers in sectors like the creative industries where it is hard to make a living."

But many graduates inadvertently remain tutors for far longer than they expect, he said. Glamorous destinations, private jets, inter-family bidding wars, and incomparable salaries make it increasingly appealing.

Lack of regulation is a growing concern

Tutors International has boomed in recent months.

"We've seen a 4-500% growth this year," Caller said.

Caller believes there is a clear reason for this: "Schools are not preparing children for the future of ultra-high-net-worth families."

These ultra-rich parents are worried that "if these kids are going to grow up and take over the family office, then they need to know how to run that company, not how to complete the square.

"If you've got the resources, you just take them out of the system and organize bespoke tuition for the child," Caller said.

But whatever the circumstances, the question remains about whether tutors are qualified.

To teach at a state school in Britain, for example, you need an undergraduate degree followed by a full year of training, a three-year teaching degree, or two years of on-the-job training with the Teach First program.

To tutor, you just need a client.

Major described it as the "Wild West of education."

"There is very little regulation or focus on protecting minimum standards," he said. "I always advise parents to think very carefully about the tutors they are paying."

Caller also cautioned that lack of regulation was an issue in the industry and that some companies had a tendency to over-promise and under-deliver. He added that he and other industry leaders were currently working to develop the world's first tutoring qualification.

The instructor working in Russia and Monaco told BI that one of her pupils had suffered with learning difficulties but that "the child's issues were completely brushed under the carpet, purely to ensure that the tutoring stayed in the hands of the company."

"I didn't have the training to teach an individual who was struggling like that," she said, "it was heartbreaking."

At the same time, "I liked that I was able to be there for certain kids in a way that they did not have at home," the tutor said.

"Many of the kids I taught were craving proper attention. You could see after a period of time the kids would almost soften with you and actually enjoy the time together."

This tutor also worked for another online agency that catered to more typical lower-middle-class families.

"These kids really needed the help and were keen to learn," she said.

"Although the pay was a lot less, seeing how excited the tutees would be when they made a breakthrough with a concept or problem made the job far more rewarding and enjoyable."

• Some gig workers' accounts have been deactivated for bizarre reasons.
• Former workers for Instacart, DoorDash, and Walmart's Spark say even just figuring out why is hard.
• It's one reason, along with pay, that some drivers and shoppers are turning away from gig work.

Work can disappear suddenly if you make deliveries as a gig worker.

That's because apps like DoorDash, Instacart, Uber Eats, and Walmart's Spark frequently deactivate the accounts of their drivers over minor issues — or no obvious issue at all, according to delivery workers who have spoken to Business Insider.

Fighting those deactivations and getting back on the apps tends to be tough. Some gig workers have found success thanks to arbitration clauses in the companies' terms for delivery contractors.

One former Instacart shopper even got a $28,000 payout after he was deactivated over an erroneous charge at a Walmart store, he told BI last year.

Three workers who spoke with BI pointed to particularly bizarre — and, in their views, unjustified — experiences related to the apps closing their accounts. The workers didn't want to be identified in this story, but BI has verified their work for the apps mentioned.

Deactivated without doing a single order

One Ohio delivery worker told BI she signed up for Walmart's Spark delivery service last fall. She wasn't making enough money delivering orders for DoorDash, she said, so she wanted to try other apps.

Before she could start delivering, though, she needed to renew her driver's license. Walmart would not sign off on her account until she uploaded a picture of her new license.

"Finally, I got it in the mail and did the identity verification," the driver recalled. "And they deactivated me immediately."

She spent the next few days trying to get someone on Spark's support line to help. But the driver never got her account reactivated — or even a clear explanation of what went wrong.

"I feel like it's a fairly easy fix," the driver said. "You can look at my account, see that I've not made one delivery for you people, and just reactivate it."

A Walmart spokesperson said: "If a driver's account is not approved, it may be due to a variety of reasons, including failure to meet the eligibility requirements or violation of the platform's Terms of Use."

Two accounts, two deactivation fights

Last summer, a couple who each deliver orders for DoorDash using their own accounts in California found out one of their accounts had been deactivated for "suspicious activity." DoorDash wasn't able to provide a more specific reason for the deactivation, one of the couple told BI.

"I was forced to rely on my DoorDash account, which only has bike mode," the second driver said. As a result, the couple's income fell by roughly half.

Then in January, the second driver said, his girlfriend's DoorDash account was reactivated after she tried contacting DoorDash multiple times. But that same month, DoorDash deactivated his own account, citing "suspicious activity." He hasn't been able to get back on the app, he said.

Finally, in February, DoorDash once again locked the girlfriend out of her account. This time, it was suspended because her identity "couldn't be verified," even though she had been making deliveries for DoorDash for seven years.

"One agent said the account was still active and another agent told her the account was deactivated and there's nothing she can do," the driver recounted. "DoorDash doesn't seem to care and they just keep giving us the run-around."

A DoorDash spokesperson directed BI to a statement that the company released on deactivation and other policies last fall. It says that "serious or egregious conduct" can lead to account deactivation and that DoorDash has an appeals process "driven by human decision-making and oversight."

Deactivated after buying expensive wine

One Instacart shopper in California told BI that he was shopping for a grocery order last summer that included a bottle of wine.

According to the order summary, the wine should have cost around $40. But in the store, it was selling for roughly twice as much.

At the checkout, the shopper said, his Instacart debit card was declined when he tried to pay for the order. After calling Instacart, a support agent was able to add money to the company-issued debit card.

The shopper went on to deliver the order. A day later, his account was deactivated. Instacart's email to him cited a "misappropriation" of the company's money.

The shopper spent the next week on the phone daily with Instacart support to figure out what had gone wrong. "Then, I finally just give up," the shopper said, adding that he decided it was easier to sign up for another app instead of getting his Instacart account reactivated.

An Instacart spokesperson confirmed that "shoppers are restricted to a specific spending amount per batch."

"If a shopper manually adds goods to the order that exceeds the capped amount, Instacart receives an alert and our teams manually review the order to take action as needed," the spokesperson added.

Do you work for Instacart, DoorDash, Walmart Spark, or another gig delivery service and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com