Edward Coristine

Last updated

Edward Coristine
BornDecember 2005 (age 19)
Other namesBig Balls
Education
OccupationProgrammer
Employers
Political party Republican
Relatives Valery Martinov (grandfather)

Edward Coristine (born December 2005), also known by the nickname Big Balls, is an American programmer and former engineering student who was appointed to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) during the second term of U.S. President Donald Trump. Coristine was later made a permanent federal employee in the General Services Administration before resigning in June 2025 and taking a job at the Social Security Administration. Coristine is known for his association with Elon Musk and DOGE, his youth and inexperience relative to his responsibilities with DOGE, and his vulgar nickname. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Coristine was born in December 2005. [2] [3] His father is Charles Coristine, the CEO of LesserEvil. [4] His maternal grandfather, Valery Martynov, was a KGB lieutenant colonel executed in 1987 by the Soviet Union as a double agent. After Martynov's execution, his widow moved with her children –including Coristine's mother Anna –to the United States. [5]

Coristine graduated from Rye Country Day School in 2024. [6] He acquired the nickname "Big Balls" during a math class in his junior year of high school [7] [1] [8] and added it to his LinkedIn profile. [9] He enrolled at Northeastern University in 2024 as a mechanical engineering and physics major. [10] School friends describe him as intelligent and driven, with Elon Musk being his hero. [11] [12] Coristine is a registered Republican. [2]

Career

Early career

A computer programmer and former engineering student, [13] [14] Coristine has founded a number of startups with companies registered in Connecticut, Delaware, and the United Kingdom. One of the startups offers an artificial intelligence Discord bot for the Russian market. [15] Coristine has a limited liability company named TESLA.SEXY. [16] [17]

Coristine briefly worked for cybersecurity firm Path Network. [18] Bloomberg News reported that Coristine was fired from his internship at Path Network in 2022 for allegedly leaking internal company information to a competitor. Following his dismissal, a large collection of internal Path documents and conversations was leaked online. [19] Coristine wrote that he had retained access to Path Network's servers, but claimed he did not exploit it. [20] Path Network confirmed that Coristine had been fired following a security incident. [21] [22]

Coristine's online content delivery network, DiamondCDN, has reportedly facilitated the work of the cybercriminal group EGodly. [23] [24] [25] [26] In 2023, Egodly thanked DiamondCDN, saying, "We extend our gratitude to our valued partners DiamondCDN for generously providing us with their amazing DDoS protection and caching systems, which allow us to securely host and safeguard our website." Egodly has claimed involvement in a number of crimes including email hacking, theft of cryptocurrency, and the harassment of a former FBI agent. [27] [28]

According to investigative journalist Brian Krebs, Coristine has been active in online communities known as "The Com", a network of Discord and Telegram channels associated with cybercrime activities. [19]

Federal government

Coristine worked briefly at Neuralink, an Elon Musk-run enterprise, before being appointed to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took office in January 2025. [15] [29] [30] He was among a group of 19- to 25-year-olds without prior experience in government appointed to DOGE; [31] Coristine was the youngest member of the group. [32] He worked within the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), reporting directly to Amanda Scales, a former xAI employee appointed as OPM chief of staff. OPM records listed his role as "expert". According to Wired , Coristine sat in on calls using a non-government email address where workers were directed to "go over code they had written and justify their jobs". [29] [33] On one call with federal Small Business Administration staff, Coristine asserted that DOGE wanted access to human resources, contract, and payment systems at the agency. [34]

Also in 2025, Coristine served as a senior advisor at the Bureau of Diplomatic Technology of the United States Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In addition, he held positions at the United States Agency for International Development [35] [8] [36] and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. [37] [38]

On May 31, 2025, Coristine became a full-time General Services Administration employee at a General Schedule grade of 15 (the top civil service grade in the federal government). [39] In June 2025, Coristine resigned from the General Services Administration. [40] [14] He was then hired by the Social Security Administration. [41] [42]

A whistleblower disclosure by Social Security Administration chief data officer Charles Borges, released on August 26, 2025, alleged that Coristine and others had uploaded the Social Security numbers and other personal information of 300 million Americans to a "vulnerable" cloud server. Borges said this created a risk of widespread identity theft in the event of a leak or hack, and stated that the incident "potentially violated multiple federal statutes" regarding the protection of government data. [43] [44] [45]

Personal life

On August 3, 2025, Coristine was assaulted in an attempted carjacking in Washington, D.C. between 3:01 a.m. and 4:20 a.m. according to the police report. [1] [13] Trump cited the incident in a criticism of crime rates in the city, which he used as a rationale to federalize the city's police force and deploy the National Guard. [46] [47]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Hutchinson, Bill; Date, Jack; Walsh, Kelsey (August 6, 2025). "19-year-old former DOGE worker assaulted in DC carjacking attempt, say police". ABC News.
  2. 1 2 Spatz, Emily (February 4, 2025). "First-year Northeastern student has a role at Musk's DOGE, according to reports" . The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on February 4, 2025. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  3. ↑ Farrar, Molly (February 5, 2025). "Harvard senior, Northeastern first-year student reportedly among Musk's DOGE team". Boston.com . Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  4. ↑ Quiroz-Gutierrez, Marco (March 13, 2025). "A 19-year-old who was reportedly fired from an internship for leaking internal information to competitors is now a DOGE 'senior advisor' in the State Department". Fortune. Retrieved June 27, 2025.
  5. ↑ Sommerlad, Joe (February 24, 2025). "Elon Musk's protege 'Big Balls' is grandson of executed KGB agent, report says". The Independent . Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  6. ↑ Sears, Jay (February 5, 2025). "Rye Country Day '24 Grad Part of Musk's DOGE Team". MyRye.com.
  7. ↑ Meléndez, Pilar; Bredderman, William (February 22, 2025). "'Big Balls' on Top of the World". Intelligencer.
  8. 1 2 Dodds, Io (February 11, 2025). "Elon Musk's teenage high school grad staffer known as 'Big Balls' now State Department adviser: Report". The Independent. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  9. ↑ Greenberg, Andy (February 6, 2025). "DOGE Teen Owns 'Tesla.Sexy LLC' and Worked at Startup That Has Hired Convicted Hackers". Wired .
  10. ↑ Sharma, Sanjay (February 6, 2025). "Edward Coristine education and career: How this college kid with a Physics Major ended up in Musk-led DOGE". The Times of India . Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  11. ↑ Archacki, Liam (February 5, 2025). "This 19-Year-Old Musk Minion Dropped Out of School to Smash the Government". The Daily Beast . Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  12. ↑ MacDiarmid, Zoe (February 4, 2025). "Northeastern student identified as engineer for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency". The Huntington News . Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  13. 1 2 Haskins, Caroline; Kelly, Makena (August 5, 2025). "Police Report: Edward 'Big Balls' Coristine Assaulted in Alleged Carjacking". Wired .
  14. 1 2 Fields, Ashleigh (June 24, 2025). "DOGE aide known as 'Big Balls' resigns". The Hill. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
  15. 1 2 Burman, Theo (February 7, 2025). "Who is 'Big Balls'? Teen DOGE Engineer Edward Coristine". Newsweek . Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  16. ↑ Fenster, Jordan Nathaniel (February 6, 2025). "Youngest member of Musk's team at DOGE is from New Canaan, media reports say". Stamford Advocate. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  17. ↑ "Elon Musk is the 'idol' of DOGE's youngest staff Edward Coristine who founded 'Tesla.Sexy LLC'". The Times of India . February 5, 2025. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  18. ↑ Ferguson, Malcolm (February 7, 2025). "Musk's DOGE Teen Minion Was Once Fired for Leaking Company Secrets". The New Republic. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  19. 1 2 Krebs, Brian (February 7, 2025). "Teen on Musk's DOGE Team Graduated from 'The Com'". KrebsOnSecurity. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
  20. ↑ Leopold, Jason; Murphy, Margi; Alexander, Sophie; Bleiberg, Jake; Cormier, Anthony (January 7, 2025). "Musk's DOGE Teen Was Fired By Cybersecurity Firm for Leaking Company Secrets". Bloomberg News . Retrieved January 7, 2025.
  21. ↑ Fenster, Jordan Nathaniel; Eaton, Joshua (February 7, 2025). "New Canaan teen on Musk's DOGE team was fired by cybersecurity firm, report says" . CT Insider . Archived from the original on February 8, 2025. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
  22. ↑ de Puy Kamp, Majlie (February 22, 2025). "Recording reveals new details on controversial DOGE employee". CNN. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  23. ↑ Kimmins, Leigh (March 26, 2025). "Musk's DOGE Goon 'Big Balls' Helped Gang That Abused FBI Agent". The Daily Beast. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  24. ↑ Liddell, James (March 26, 2025). "'Big Balls' gave tech support to criminal group that cyberstalked an FBI agent, report says". The Independent. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  25. ↑ Hewson, Georgie (March 27, 2025). "DOGE staffer calling himself 'big balls' provided tech support to cybercrime ring, records show". ABC News (Australia). Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  26. ↑ Gault, Matthew (March 26, 2025). "Elon Musk's 'Big Balls' Doge Staffer Reportedly Ran Tech Support for a Cybercrime Ring". Gizmodo . Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  27. ↑ "Teen member of Musk's Doge staff provided tech support to cybercrime ring, records show". The Guardian . March 26, 2025. Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  28. ↑ Landymore, Frank (March 27, 2025). "One of Elon Musk's DOGE Kids Reportedly Helped a Cybercrime Ring". Futurism . Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  29. 1 2 Elliott, Vittoria (February 2, 2025). "The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk's Government Takeover". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved February 3, 2025.
  30. ↑ Townsend, Chance (February 3, 2025). "Elon Musk's DOGE takeover is reportedly being spearheaded by young college grads". Mashable. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
  31. ↑ Ensor, Josie (February 7, 2025). "Meet Elon Musk's 'baby-faced assassins' leading Doge takeover". The Times. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  32. ↑ Lubin, Rhian; Marcus, Josh (February 5, 2025). "The seven techies barely out of college helping Musk to slash billions from federal government". The Independent. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  33. ↑ Kelly, Makena (January 30, 2025). "Government Tech Workers Forced to Defend Projects to Random Elon Musk Bros". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved February 3, 2025.
  34. ↑ Barrón-López, Laura (February 3, 2025). "Trump takes steps to shutter USAID and gives Musk unprecedented access to federal systems". PBS News Hour . Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  35. ↑ Siddiqui, Faiz; Hudson, John; Stanley-Becker, Isaac (February 10, 2025). "19-year-old Musk surrogate takes on roles at State Department and DHS". The Washington Post . Retrieved February 10, 2025.
  36. ↑ Ropek, Lucas (February 11, 2025). "I Regret to Inform You That a 19-Year-Old DOGE Stooge Named 'Big Balls' Is Now Advising the State Department". Gizmodo . Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  37. ↑ Zetter, Kim (February 19, 2025). "DOGE Now Has Access to the Top US Cybersecurity Agency". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved March 25, 2025.
  38. ↑ DiMolfetta, David (February 20, 2025). "DOGE employee Edward Coristine lands at CISA with DHS email". NextGov . Retrieved March 27, 2025.
  39. ↑ Kelly, Makena (June 4, 2025). "'Big Balls' Is Officially a Full-Time Government Employee". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved June 4, 2025.
  40. ↑ Lahut, Jake; Kelly, Makena; Elliott, Vittoria; Schiffer, Zoë (June 24, 2025). "'Big Balls' No Longer Works for the US Government" . Wired . Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  41. ↑ Lubin, Rhian (June 27, 2025). "'Big Balls' now working at Social Security Administration after leaving DOGE: report". The Independent. Retrieved June 27, 2025.
  42. ↑ Cameron, Chris; Nehamas, Nicholas (June 25, 2025). "Edward Coristine, Key Player on Elon Musk's DOGE Team, Resigns". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 27, 2025.
  43. ↑ Woodward, Alex (August 26, 2025). "Whistleblower claims DOGE compromised Social Security data of hundreds of millions of Americans". The Independent. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
  44. ↑ Esposito, Laura (August 26, 2025). "'Big Balls' in Biggest Ever Social Security Leak: Whistleblower". The Daily Beast. Retrieved September 2, 2025.
  45. ↑ Nehamas, Nicholas (August 26, 2025). "DOGE Put Critical Social Security Data at Risk, Whistle-Blower Says". The New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
  46. ↑ Lebowitz, Megan; Uribe, Raquel Coronell (August 11, 2025). "Trump to take over D.C. police and deploy the National Guard in effort to fight crime in the nation's capital". NBC News. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
  47. ↑ Trump, Donald J. (August 11, 2025). "Restoring Law and Order in the District of Columbia". WhiteHouse.gov . Retrieved August 19, 2025. The local government of the District of Columbia has lost control of public order and safety in the city, as evidenced by the two embassy staffers who were murdered in May, the Congressional intern who was fatally shot a short distance from the White House in June, and the Administration staffer who was mercilessly beaten by a violent mob days ago.
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