Edward Coristine
Edward Coristine (born December 2005), also known by the online alias "Big Balls",[1] is an American college student and software engineer appointed to the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).[2][3][4]
Early life and education
Coristine was born in December 2005.[5][6]
According to his LinkedIn résumé, Coristine graduated from Rye Country Day School in 2024, and attends Northeastern University.[7][8][9]
He enrolled at Northeastern University in 2024 as a mechanical engineering and physics major.[10] His expected year of graduation is 2028.[5] School friends describe him as intelligent and driven, with Elon Musk being his hero.[11][12]
Coristine is a registered Republican.[5]
Career
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.[13] Coristine has a limited liability company named TESLA.SEXY.[14][15]
He briefly worked for cybersecurity firm Path Network.[16] According to internal company chat logs, Coristine was dismissed for allegedly leaking internal documents to a competitor. After his termination, a large collection of internal Path documents and conversations were leaked online.[17] He briefly worked for LesserEvil, a snack company owned by his father Charles Coristine.[7]
Coristine worked briefly at Neuralink before moving to the Department of Government Efficiency.[13] Coristine is among a group of 19 to 24 year olds without prior experience in government appointed to the Department of Government Efficiency.[18][19] Coristine is the youngest member of the group.[20] He works within the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), reporting directly to Amanda Scales, a former xAI employee appointed as OPM chief of staff.[21] OPM records list his role as an "expert". According to Wired, Coristine has sat in on calls using a non-government email address where workers were made to "go over code they had written and justify their jobs."[2][7]
On February 3, 2025, Coristine held a call with federal Small Business Administration staff detailing the level of access wanted by DOGE, including human resources, contract and payment systems.[22] He reportedly signed into the call from a non-government email address.[19] His ability to pass a federal background check has been questioned.[23]
On February 7, 2025, Bloomberg News reported that Coristine had been fired from his internship at cybersecurity firm Path Network in 2022 for allegedly leaking internal company information to a competitor. Following his dismissal, Coristine wrote that he had retained access to Path Network's servers, but claimed he did not exploit it.[24] Path Network confirmed that Coristine had been fired following a security incident.[25]
Coristine used the moniker "bigballs" on LinkedIn and @Edwardbigballer on Twitter, according to The Daily Dot.[8][26]
On February 7, 2025, security journalist Brian Krebs reported that Coristine had previously been active in online communities known as "The Com," a network of Discord and Telegram channels associated with cybercrime activities.[17] According to Krebs' article, The Com members have questioned Coristine's technical abilities, with one member asserting that he is "not a good dev" and he "couldn't print 'hello world' if his life depended on it."[17]
On February 10, 2025, The Washington Post reported Coristine became a senior advisor in the Bureau of Diplomatic Technology of the United States Department of State. The Post also reported that Coristine is a senior adviser at the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and had a position in the United States Agency for International Development.[27][28][29]
References
- ↑ "Musk teenage staffer 'Big Balls' now State Department adviser: Report". The Independent. 2025-02-11. Retrieved 2025-02-12.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Elliott, Vittoria. "The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk's Government Takeover". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ↑ Townsend, Chance (February 3, 2025). "Elon Musk's DOGE takeover is reportedly being spearheaded by young college grads". Mashable. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ↑ Leopold, Jason; Cormier, Anthony (February 3, 2025). "Behind DOGE's Standoff at USAID: Desk Searches and Elon Musk Calling". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Spatz, Emily. "First-year Northeastern student has a role at Musk's DOGE, according to reports". bostonglobe.com. The Boston Globe. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ↑ Farrar, Molly. "Harvard senior, Northeastern first-year student reportedly among Musk's DOGE team". boston.com. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Kelly, Makena. "Government Tech Workers Forced to Defend Projects to Random Elon Musk Bros". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Talbot, Hope (February 3, 2025). "Musk's DOGE employs a 19-year-old who goes by 'Big Balls' on LinkedIn". The Daily Dot. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ↑ "2023 Excellence Magazine by Rye Country Day School - Issuu". issuu.com. October 3, 2023. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ↑ Sharma, Sanjay. "Edward Coristine education and career: How this college kid with a Physics Major ended up in Musk-led DOGE". indiatimes.com. Times of India. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ↑ "This 19-Year-Old Musk Minion Dropped Out of School to Smash the Government". thedailybeast.com. The Daily Beast. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ↑ MacDiarmid, Zoe. "Northeastern student identified as engineer for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency". huntnewsnu.com. The Huntington News. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Burman, Theo. "Who is 'Big Balls'? Teen DOGE Engineer Edward Coristine". newsweek.com. Newsweek. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
- ↑ Fenster, Jordan Nathaniel. "Youngest member of Musk's team at DOGE is from New Canaan, media reports say". stamfordadvocate.com. Stamford Advocate. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ↑ "Elon Musk is the 'idol' of DOGE's youngest staff Edward Coristine who founded 'Tesla.Sexy LLC'". indiatimes.com. Times of India. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ↑ Ferguson, Malcolm. "Musk's DOGE Teen Minion Was Once Fired for Leaking Company Secrets". newrepublic.com. The New Republic. Retrieved 8 February 2025.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Krebs, Brian (February 7, 2025). "Teen on Musk's DOGE Team Graduated from 'The Com'". KrebsOnSecurity. Retrieved February 9, 2025.
- ↑ "Elon Puts Kid Who Just Graduated From High School in Charge of Disemboweling the US Government". Futurism. January 29, 2025. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Ensor, Josie. "Meet Elon Musk's 'baby-faced assassins' leading Doge takeover". thetimes.com. The Times. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ↑ Lubin, Rhian; Marcus, Josh. "The seven techies barely out of college helping Musk to slash billions from federal government". independent.co.uk. The Independent. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ↑ Rogelberg, Sasha. "Top hires in Trump's Office of Personnel Management reportedly include a 21-year-old and a freshly graduated high-schooler". Fortune. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ↑ Barrón-López, Laura (2025-02-03). "Trump takes steps to shutter USAID and gives Musk unprecedented access to federal systems". PBS News Hour. Retrieved 2025-02-05.
- ↑ Greenberg, Andy. "DOGE Teen Owns 'Tesla.Sexy LLC' and Worked at Startup That Has Hired Convicted Hackers". wired.com. Wired. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- ↑ Leopold, Jason; Murphy, Margi; Alexander, Sophie; Bleiberg, Jake; Cormier, Anthony (2025-01-07). "Musk's DOGE Teen Was Fired By Cybersecurity Firm for Leaking Company Secrets". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 2025-01-07.
- ↑ Fenster, Jordan Nathaniel; Eaton, Joshua. "New Canaan teen on Musk's DOGE team was fired by cybersecurity firm, report says". ctinsider.com. CT Insider. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
- ↑ Henderson, Cameron (February 3, 2025). "Musk signs up university-aged team to dismantle foreign aid". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
- ↑ Siddiqui, Faiz; Hudson, John; Stanley-Becker, Isaac (10 February 2025). "19-year-old Musk surrogate takes on roles at State Department and DHS". The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
- ↑ Dodds, Io. "Elon Musk's teenage high school grad staffer known as 'Big Balls' now State Department adviser: Report". independent.co.uk. The Independent. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- ↑ Ropek, Lucas. "I Regret to Inform You That a 19-Year-Old DOGE Stooge Named 'Big Balls' Is Now Advising the State Department". gizmodo.com. Gizmodo. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
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