‘Big Balls’ now working at Social Security Administration after departing DOGE: report

Coristine, who was hired by Musk to join the DOGE team, recently departed the White House but a SSA spokesperson confirmed that he has since joined the agency as a special government employee

Edward Coristine, the 19-year-old nicknamed “Big Balls” who was working in the Department of Government Efficiency, has landed a new role at the Social Security Administration.

Coristine, who was hired by Elon Musk to join the DOGE team, recently left the White House but a Social Security Administration spokesperson confirmed he has since joined the agency as a special government employee.

“Edward Coristine joined the Social Security Administration this week as a special government employee,” spokesperson Stephen McGraw told WIRED. “His work will be focused on improving the functionality of the Social Security website and advancing our mission of delivering more efficient service to the American people.”

It was not immediately clear when Coristine started his new role.

Sources told the outlet that Coristine “looked nervous” and “almost embarrassed” after being spotted at the agency’s Woodlawn headquarters in Maryland this week.

He was seen with DOGE engineer Aram Moghaddassi, another Musk hire who is working for X and Neuralink.

Edward Coristine, also known by his online nickname 'Big Balls,' is now working at the Social Security Administration. The White House announced his departure from DOGE earlier this week. (Jesse Watters Primetime/ Fox News)

“Coristine looked nervous, almost embarrassed,” the source told WIRED. “Aram was on the phone with someone … then said ‘Yes I’m with him right now,’ gesturing to Big Balls.’”

Coristine’s appointment at the agency follows a recent report that Musk and allies insisted on giving a 21-year-old former Silicon Valley intern sweeping access to personal data on hundreds of millions of Americans at the Social Security Administration.

Musk ordered 21-year-old Akash Bobba, a former Palantir intern who’d been hired as a programmer for DOGE, be granted access to Social Security data without proper training so he could run his own analysis, The New York Times reported.

When the acting commissioner, Michelle King, declined to do so, Musk had her fired and replaced with Leland Dudek. Dudek, brought back from a suspension on the DOGE team’s recommendation, got Bobba the access.

Coristine was first selected to work for the Tesla boss as a technologist, and received full-time staff status at the General Services Administration last month.

Coristine’s appointment at the agency follows a recent report that Musk and allies insisted on giving a 21-year-old former Silicon Valley intern sweeping access to personal data on hundreds of millions of Americans at the Social Security Administration. (AFP/Getty)

Coristine became well known online and among Musk’s immense fanbase publicly after he was paraded on Fox News alongside his boss. “Who is Big Balls?” host Jesse Watters asked on his program, surrounded by DOGE members and supporters at a huge oval conference table.

“I am,” piped up 19-year-old DOGE staff member Edward Coristine. “That should be obvious,” Musk quipped to laughter.

Coristine claimed to have caught the eye of the world’s richest man after simply changing his name on LinkedIn to “Big Balls.”

In addition to his brief stint as a government employee, the teenage high school graduate worked at Neuralink for several months and founded a company called Tesla.Sexy LLC in 2021, according to WIRED.

Speaking to Fox News, Coristine stated that while working in the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Technology, he used “computer stuff” as he claimed to ferret out “fraud and waste,” the old mantra of his former boss.

With additional reporting from Mike Bedigan