Reuters reports:

The best-known member of Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service team of technologists once provided support to a cybercrime gang that bragged about trafficking in stolen data and cyberstalking an FBI agent, according to digital records reviewed by Reuters.

Edward Coristine is among the most visible members of the DOGE effort that has been given sweeping access to official networks as it attempts to radically downsize the U.S. government.

Past reporting had focused on his youth – he is 19 – and his chosen nickname of “bigballs,” which became a pop culture punchline. Musk has championed the teen on his social media site X, telling his followers last month that “Big Balls is awesome.”

Beginning around 2022, while still in high school, Coristine ran a company called DiamondCDN that provided network services, according to corporate and digital records reviewed by Reuters and interviews with half a dozen former associates. Among its users was a website run by a ring of cybercriminals operating under the name “EGodly,” according to digital records preserved by the internet intelligence firm DomainTools and the online cybersecurity tool Any.Run.

The details of Coristine’s connection to EGodly have not been previously reported.

On Feb. 15, 2023, EGodly thanked Coristine’s company for its assistance in a post on the Telegram messaging app. [Continue reading…]