Report: 19-year-old DOGE team member "Big Balls" provided network support to cybercrime gang

[midian182]

In brief: Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team contains a member who once provided tech support to a cybercrime gang, according to a new report. Edward Coristine, the 19-year-old often known by his nickname of "Big Balls," already has a colorful history, with other reports claiming he is the grandson of a KGB spy.

According to records reviewed by Reuters, Coristine ran a company called DiamondCDN that provided network services from around 2022, while he was still in high school. Among its users was a website run by a ring of cybercriminals operating under the name "EGodly."

EGodly thanked DiamondCDN for providing it with DDoS protection and caching systems in February 2023, noting that Coristine's company helped it securely host and safeguard its website, dataleak.fun.

Personally, I voted for Big Balls https://t.co/gtRPzGHLDr

– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2025

That same year, EGodly boasted on its Telegram channel that it had hijacked phone numbers, broke into law enforcement email accounts in Latin America, and committed cryptocurrency theft. It had also distributed personal details of an FBI agent who was investigating the group, including his phone number and photographs of his house, on Telegram.

The now-retired FBI agent told Reuters that the group was being investigated over its connection to swatting incidents. "These are bad folks," the former agent said. "They're not a pleasant group."

A cybersecurity researcher said EGodly was made up of hardened fraudsters.

Nitin Natarajan, who served as the deputy director of CISA under former President Joe Biden, told Reuters that it was concerning someone who had provided services to cybercriminals now had access to sensitive government networks.

A profile photo from Coristine's WhatsApp account

Coristine set up Tesla.Sexy LLC in 2021, when he was 16 years old. The company controls dozens of web domains, including at least two Russian-registered domains, one of which is an AI bot for Discord servers targeting the Russian market, writes Wired.

According to journalist Jacob Silverman, Coristine's great-grandfather worked for the KGB during the Cold War. Valery Fedorovich Martynov was recruited by the FBI in 1982 to pass Soviet intelligence to the US, but he was eventually discovered by KGB counterintelligence officer Victor Cherkashin and executed as a traitor.

Coristine was fired from a cybersecurity internship last year for allegedly leaking insider information to a rival. He was also accused of frequently engaging with Telegram and Discord communities linked to cybercrime.

Coristine's background has led to some questioning the vetting process for DOGE staff, and whether any background checks were carried out.

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Report: 19-year-old DOGE team member "Big Balls" provided network support to cybercrime gang

 

[The Talking Tech]

Wow....why isn't he sent to a Salvador's prison like the other "criminals" Trump has sent over there?
Oh wait ...it's another of Trump's terrible administration employees so Trump's double standards would conflict with his own regime.

 

[Beerfloat]

Ironically, this still leaves Big Balls as one of the less criminal members of Trump's brownshirt brigades.

 

[CBTex]

Personally, I'm not a Trump supporter, but the amount of people that are outraged about the attempt to tap the brakes on wasteful spending/fraud is crazy. If even 10% of the claims of waste are true, that's an incredible amount of savings that can be used for deficit reduction or more valuable spending. I do wish they would put more effort into looking at the Department of Defense. I'm sure there's a ton of waste there too. Hopefully, that's on the list to address.

 

[ruid84]

There's no mention what role he plays in DOGE.

Often talented hackers are given options to either go to prison or work for government. Of course it's a double edged sword because if someone is used to cheating it's very likely he or she will betray a current employer.

 

[stewi0001]

Personally, I'm not a Trump supporter, but the amount of people that are outraged about the attempt to tap the brakes on wasteful spending/fraud is crazy. If even 10% of the claims of waste are true, that's an incredible amount of savings that can be used for deficit reduction or more valuable spending. I do wish they would put more effort into looking at the Department of Defense. I'm sure there's a ton of waste there too. Hopefully, that's on the list to address.

I'm all for cutting wasteful spending. I think the problem is way they are going about it and the people that are doing it.

I get making a mistake or two, but they have had way too many screw ups. Now with this additional info of this kid with no balls.

 

[The Talking Tech]

Personally, I'm not a Trump supporter, but the amount of people that are outraged about the attempt to tap the brakes on wasteful spending/fraud is crazy. If even 10% of the claims of waste are true, that's an incredible amount of savings that can be used for deficit reduction or more valuable spending. I do wish they would put more effort into looking at the Department of Defense. I'm sure there's a ton of waste there too. Hopefully, that's on the list to address.

For a "non Trump supporter" you sure sound like a Trump supporter in disguise.

 

[JamesBlond]

Ironically, this still leaves Big Balls as one of the less criminal members of Trump's brownshirt brigades.

Anything like the 3.2Trillion demon-rats have stolen in just 4 short years

 

[CBTex]

For a "non Trump supporter" you sure sound like a Trump supporter in disguise.

Nope. I'm most certainly moderate. I know with how far left the Democrats have gone, the middle seems like extremism. The Democrats of the JFK era (even 1990's Bill Clinton) would win in a landslide today. Unfortunately, today's Democrats seem hell bent on trying to out woke one another, classify people based on how they look, and constantly play the victim, which only drives people to populists like Trump.

 

[The Talking Tech]

Nope. I'm most certainly moderate. I know with how far left the Democrats have gone, the middle seems like extremism. The Democrats of the JFK era (even 1990's Bill Clinton) would win in a landslide today. Unfortunately, today's Democrats seem hell bent on trying to out woke one another, classify people based on how they look, and constantly play the victim, which only drives people to populists like Trump.

Trust me when I say for a "moderate" you are lining too far to the right....it's ok as most Trump supporters are ashamed to display publicly who they voted for....or are you also going to deny you voted for him?

 

[ruid84]

I'm all for cutting wasteful spending. I think the problem is way they are going about it and the people that are doing it.

I get making a mistake or two, but they have had way too many screw ups. Now with this additional info of this kid with no balls.

If you do so much in so little time, the mistakes are unavoidable. Fortunately, most of them can be corrected... Five years from noe nobody will remover those mistakes.

 

[Lowhangingfruit]

Personally, I'm not a Trump supporter, but the amount of people that are outraged about the attempt to tap the brakes on wasteful spending/fraud is crazy. If even 10% of the claims of waste are true, that's an incredible amount of savings that can be used for deficit reduction or more valuable spending. I do wish they would put more effort into looking at the Department of Defense. I'm sure there's a ton of waste there too. Hopefully, that's on the list to address.

Most of this has absolutely nothing to do with cutting waste and fraud. If you look at actions at USAID, FCC, FTC, HHS, Education etc. etc., almost all of it is politically motivated to help certain people/industries. All signs indicate that Trump is going to make the deficit significantly worse.

I got an idea on how we can save tons of money: How about we stop gifting weapons to Israel? Seems just as wasteful as USAID to me.

 

[wiyosaya]

Personally, I'm not a Trump supporter, but the amount of people that are outraged about the attempt to tap the brakes on wasteful spending/fraud is crazy. If even 10% of the claims of waste are true, that's an incredible amount of savings that can be used for deficit reduction or more valuable spending. I do wish they would put more effort into looking at the Department of Defense. I'm sure there's a ton of waste there too. Hopefully, that's on the list to address.

So you have no knowledge of wasteful spending, but someone has convinced you that it exists? In other words, what you don't know, you invent - to quote Delenn in the Babylon 5 episode "Deconstruction of Falling Stars"

In fact, it seems that even the present administration does not know where the wasteful spending exists, and to make it look like they are doing something, the current administration is taking a slash and burn approach to finding it. The current administration is likely making the situation far worse than it was, but it's supporters are cheering them on. Cutting employees is only making the situation far worse. https://moneywise.com/retirement/th...-fears-of-massive-benefit-delays-for-retirees
https://larson.house.gov/media-cent...slashing-staff-social-security-administration

IMO, this guy has no business being in a position where he has any access, at all, to sensitive information. He could simply turn around and start providing it to more bad actors if he wants, and I bet he's smart enough to evade detection even from that A-hole Musk who thinks he's smarter than he really is.

Law and order administration my ***.

 

[wiyosaya]

Nope. I'm most certainly moderate. I know with how far left the Democrats have gone, the middle seems like extremism. The Democrats of the JFK era (even 1990's Bill Clinton) would win in a landslide today. Unfortunately, today's Democrats seem hell bent on trying to out woke one another, classify people based on how they look, and constantly play the victim, which only drives people to populists like Trump.

Democrats constantly playing the victim; that's rich given that Trump played the victim from 2020 to at least the 2024 election - and he's taking his victimhood out on people and doing exactly what he claimed was done to him - just for spite.

Try touring the White House now, and say the word "Felon." See what happens - just for saying the word.

Here's a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt that I think is pertinent to what is happening now -

Eleanor Roosevelt Quote

Long ago, there was a noble word, liberal, which derives from the word free. Now a strange thing happened to that word. A man named Hitler made it a term of abuse, a matter of suspicion, because those who were not with him were...

libquotes.com

Long ago, there was a noble word, liberal, which derives from the word free. Now a strange thing happened to that word. A man named Hitler made it a term of abuse, a matter of suspicion, because those who were not with him were against him, and liberals had no use for Hitler. And then another man named McCarthy cast the same opprobrium on the word.... We must cherish and honor the word free or it will cease to apply to us.

IMO, at this rate, the US will be lucky to survive with any semblance of democracy intact.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

If you do so much in so little time, the mistakes are unavoidable. Fortunately, most of them can be corrected... Five years from noe nobody will remover those mistakes.

-When correcting the mistakes costs more money than what you saved trying to cut the fraud in the first place... You might be the fraud.

 

[wiyosaya]

If you do so much in so little time, the mistakes are unavoidable. Fortunately, most of them can be corrected... Five years from noe nobody will remover those mistakes.

Maybe they can be corrected. The last time in history something like this happened, it took a long time for the "mistakes" to be corrected.

 

[wiyosaya]

-When correcting the mistakes costs more money than what you saved trying to cut the fraud in the first place... You might be the fraud.

Might? I think the operative word should be "are."

 

[Kirby1]

Personally, I'm not a Trump supporter, but the amount of people that are outraged about the attempt to tap the brakes on wasteful spending/fraud is crazy. If even 10% of the claims of waste are true, that's an incredible amount of savings that can be used for deficit reduction or more valuable spending. I do wish they would put more effort into looking at the Department of Defense. I'm sure there's a ton of waste there too. Hopefully, that's on the list to address.

Musk is trying to shut down parts of the government that oversee safety regulations for cars, which Tesla has had a lot of trouble with. That's it, it's not wasteful spending, it's just pure self interest for Musk.

And it's such a dumb plan too. I mean, who wants to buy a car from a guy who is literally trying to shut down car safety administrations?

 

[Kirby1]

Nope. I'm most certainly moderate. I know with how far left the Democrats have gone, the middle seems like extremism. The Democrats of the JFK era (even 1990's Bill Clinton) would win in a landslide today. Unfortunately, today's Democrats seem hell bent on trying to out woke one another, classify people based on how they look, and constantly play the victim, which only drives people to populists like Trump.

There's no moderates anymore. These issues are back and white. Trump tried to take over the government and right wing people were in full support of it. There's no middle ground to this, and every single person who claims to be moderate is a full blown Trump supporter who doesn't want to admit it in certain crowds.

 

[stewi0001]

If you do so much in so little time, the mistakes are unavoidable. Fortunately, most of them can be corrected... Five years from noe nobody will remover those mistakes.

However you having people making decisions about stuff they know nothing about. It would be one thing if DOGE was giving a suggestion about where to make cuts and then the head of the departments reviewed it.

 

[Kirby1]

However you having people making decisions about stuff they know nothing about. It would be one thing if DOGE was giving a suggestion about where to make cuts and then the head of the departments reviewed it.

Musks report: Your agency is trying to sue Tesla for safety violations. You are wasteful, drop your lawsuit or I'll shut down your administration.

The only good thing coming from this is that it's all so blatently stupid that Trump supporters are having a much harder time defending him these days. Normally every other post here would be a Trump supporter spewing total nonsense and forcing the sane people to repeatedly call out and correct them. It's nice to see fewer and fewer crazy people speaking up about it.

 

[Hexic]

There's no moderates anymore. These issues are back and white. Trump tried to take over the government and right wing people were in full support of it. There's no middle ground to this, and every single person who claims to be moderate is a full blown Trump supporter who doesn't want to admit it in certain crowds.

That attitude is what lost the Democrats the election. "If you don't agree with us, you're far-right in denial!"

The fact you can't even imagine there's middle-ground anywhere is straight up identity politics at it's finest. That's the -opposite- of how you attract new votes.

 

[Kirby1]

That attitude is what lost the Democrats the election. "If you don't agree with us, you're far-right in denial!"

The fact you can't even imagine there's middle-ground anywhere is straight up identity politics at it's finest. That's the -opposite- of how you attract new votes.

There is no middle ground when it comes to a terrorist regime being in power. Either you support the regime that tried to overthrow the government, or you don't.

Pretend to yourself there is a middle ground all you want.

There is no middle ground between truth and lies.

Also, I'm not in politics and I'm not trying to attract any voters at all.

 

[Hexic]

There is no middle ground when it comes to a terrorist regime being in power. Either you support the regime that tried to overthrow the government, or you don't.

Pretend to yourself there is a middle ground all you want.

There is no middle ground between truth and lies.

Also, I'm not in politics and I'm not trying to attract any voters at all.

If your verbiage is, "terrorist regime in power" - then you've proven you aren't capable of thinking objectively here.

There is always a middle ground, you just have to rise above base emotional feelings and look at our wonderful clusterfarce of a situation objectively. It's hard, and most people prove incapable.

"Us vs. Them" hasn't worked in class warfare, so I'd heavily discourage that line of thought in this instance if you legitimately want to grow as a person.

 

[Kirby1]

If your verbiage is, "terrorist regime in power" - then you've proven you aren't capable of thinking objectively here.

There is always a middle ground, you just have to rise above base emotional feelings and look at our wonderful clusterfarce of a situation objectively. It's hard, and most people prove incapable.

"Us vs. Them" hasn't worked in class warfare, so I'd heavily discourage that line of thought in this instance if you legitimately want to grow as a person.

I donr have emotions about politics. I have facts, and I stick with those.

When Trump and his supporters tried to overthrow the government on January 6th, that was the actions of a domestic terrorist group. That group is now in power. These are just facts.

Please don't attempt to give me any of your advise. Everything you say is crazy and rediculous.