Edward Coristine, the youngest of Elon Musk’s DOGE whiz kids at 19 years old, was previously fired from an internship after he allegedly leaked a data security firm’s sensitive information to its competitor, a Bloomberg report reveals.
In a June 2022 message reviewed by Bloomberg, an executive with Path Network confirmed that Coristine “has been terminated,” and called his behavior “unacceptable.” The exec added, “There is zero tolerance for this.”
Talking to Bloomberg on Thursday, a spokesperson for the company added, “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.”
Coristine confirmed that he had retained access to the cybersecurity firm’s computers but insisted he did not abuse his privileges in a 2022 Discord message, reviewed by Bloomberg.
“I never exploited it because it’s just not me,” wrote Coristine under the alias “Rivage.” He is also known to use the alias “JoeyCrafter,” sources told Bloomberg. “Big Balls” is another of his online monikers.
Coristine insisted that he had done “nothing contractually wrong” while working for Path Network. The incident didn’t prevent the teen from landing an internship at Musk’s Neuralink before moving on to DOGE, where his core responsibilities now include gathering datasets on government personnel, contracts and programs, according to Bloomberg, which spoke to sources familiar with his role.
Bloomberg reported that at least two cybercrime investigators have been monitoring chat rooms that Coristine and others have frequented in the last year. The investigators told Bloomberg they became aware of Coristine and one of his aliases while investigating an alleged hacker he was in contact with.
“Looking for capable, powerful & reliable L7,” reads a 2022 Telegram from “JoeyCrafter,” reviewed by Bloomberg. The message referred to a hacking tool that overwhelms websites with traffic.
Washington-based lawyer Brad Moss told Bloomberg that Coristine’s internet forum activities would not entirely disqualify him from obtaining security clearances. However, Moss said it would “absolutely” raise concerns for higher-level clearance.
Coristine isn’t the first DOGE staffer to raise flags over his internet activity.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that Gavin Kliger, 25, resigned from the department amid mounting questions over connections to racist and eugenics-pushing social media posts.
