Musk DOGE Staffer Was Fired for Allegedly Leaking Company Secrets

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

A controversial member of Elon Musk’s DOGE was terminated from his internship at an Arizona cybersecurity firm two years ago after allegedly leaking the company’s secrets online, according to a report.

Bloomberg reported Friday that 19-year-old Edward Coristine – who has gone by the name “Big Balls” online – once spoke about how he had the power to damage a company on a Discord server while using the moniker “Rivage.”

As a member of Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Coristine has access to Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, and other sensitive information across numerous government agencies.

While interning with a company called Path Network, Bloomberg reported Friday it had confirmed Coristine was fired in 2022 for leaking its sensitive information online:

“Edward has been terminated for leaking internal information to the competitors,” said a June 2022 message from an executive of the firm, Path Network, which was seen by Bloomberg News. “This is unacceptable and there is zero tolerance for this.”

A spokesperson for the Arizona-based hosting and data-security firm said Thursday: “I can confirm that Edward Coristine’s brief contract was terminated after the conclusion of an internal investigation into the leaking of proprietary company information that coincided with his tenure.”

Afterward, Coristine wrote that he’d retained access to the cybersecurity company’s computers, though he said he hadn’t taken advantage of it.

“I had access to every single machine,” he wrote on Discord in late 2022, weeks after he was dismissed from Path Network, according to messages seen by Bloomberg. Posting under the name “Rivage,” which six people who know him said was his alias, Coristine said he could have wiped Path’s customer-supporting servers if he’d wished. He added, “I never exploited it because it’s just not me.”

His comments, made in a Discord server focused on another competitor company, worried executives at Path Network, who believed there was no legitimate reason for a former employee to access their machines, according to a person familiar with the incident. The person asked not to be named, citing the sensitivity of the matter.

Per Bloomberg, Coristine claimed on the same server he had done “nothing contractually wrong” while with Path Path Network. The outlet further linked him to Telegram discussions about free speech as it related to the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer while using the moniker JoeyCrafter.

Coristine interned at Musk’s Neuralink as a teen. In addition to speaking about sensitive information related to Path Network in online chat rooms, the then-minor also allegedly engaged in banter about coding and launched what Bloomberg described as “lewd insults” on both Discord and Telegram as a minor.

He further “used language that suggested he was seeking a tool used in hacking.”

In recent weeks, the teen has been part of Musk’s work tearing down government agencies Musk deems unnecessary on behalf of President Donald Trump.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) blasted Musk and DOGE in Bloomberg’s reporting on Coristine.

“Giving Elon Musk’s goon squad access to systems that control payments to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other key federal programs is a national security nightmare,” Wyden said. “Every hour new disturbing details emerge to prove that these guys have no business anywhere close to sensitive information or critical networks.”

Others described as Coristine’s “online peers and former co-workers” also told Bloomberg they were surprised he had been placed in a position with access to sensitive information.