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The term “Big Balls” is currently trending after a February 6 CNN segment was dedicated to Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old “government expert.” Coristine, who goes by the nickname “Big Balls” online including his now-deleted LinkedIn profile, works for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
He has raised eyebrows after Wired research revealed that he was part of the DOGE Army that was auditing the government on February 1 despite having a seemingly complicated background himself.
The CNN segment was part of the network’s syndicated show, Erin Burnett Outfront, and saw Wired global editorial director Katie Drummond joining host Erin Burnett discussing the same.
“So, this is a 19-year-old high school graduate who has used the unfortunate nickname, uh, ‘Big Balls’ online. So, that would be one way that we could refer to him. He is now working at Musk’s behest inside DOGE and we looked into his background, and so we found, you know, several notable things,” Katie said.
Drummond continued:
“One of which is that this individual has founded multiple companies, including one with another unfortunate name, uh, “Tesla.S*xy LLC,” which he established in 2021. He would have been around 16 years old. Now, this LLC controls dozens of web domains, a handful of which are registered in Russia.”
Ever since the segment became viral, the internet has had meme-worthy reactions on X:
“I can see a future in Big Balls merch,” a person wrote.
“In big balls we trust,” one person wrote.
“Big Balls 4 The Win!” wrote another.
Others continued to share their wild reactions on the platform.
“That nickname is in no way unfortunate,” a netizen wrote.
“I like big balls and I cannot lie,” a user wrote.
“And big hat,” wrote another.
There is no official report of Edward Coristine addressing the matter.
As part of the CNN segment, Katie Drummond explained that Edward “Big Balls” Coristine has developed several companies, one of which aka Tesla.S*xy LLC allegedly has web domains registered in Russia.
“Now that in and of itself is not necessarily illegal, but every expert we’ve spoke to said that that is exactly the kind of thing, those kinds of foreign connections, that would raise red flags on a background check,” Katie said of Edward.
The Wired executive added:
“Now, he also worked at a network monitoring firm that is known for hiring reformed black hat hackers, essentially criminals, and lastly we uncovered Telegram messages that we’ve linked to this individual in which that Telegram user is soliciting a cyberattack for hire.”
The live segment later circulated in the form of a video online. DOGE head Elon Musk took to his platform X and mocked the same. Reposting the clip, he wrote in the caption, “This was actually on TV,” alongside three crying-laughing emojis.
Exploring more why Big Balls is trending
As per Wired, Edward Coristine is part of a team of young and talented engineers hired by DOGE to tackle waste and efficiency in the computer systems of the federal government, under the advisory of the new Trump administration.
His job reportedly includes calling public servants, reviewing their codes, and clarifying their job designations to DOGE.
Dubbed, “DOGE kids,” the public servants arrived at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) headquarters in Washington D.C. over the weekend and secured access to classified and sensitive information of the government, as reported by Hindustan Times.
An article published by the outlet on Thursday titled, “DOGE Teen Owns ‘Tesla.S*xy LLC’ and Worked at Startup That Has Hired Convicted Hackers,” also shared that Big Balls has gained attention after reports of whether he would pass the background check to work at DOGE emerged.
Experts told Wired that given the teenager’s background, it remains uncertain whether he would be given security clearances to have access to sensitive information about the U.S. federal government.
Edward Coristine is a high school graduate who has launched at least five different companies in the last four years based out of Connecticut, Delaware, and the UK. One of them Tesla.S*xy LLC has him listed as the founder and CEO, and oversees dozens of web domains, including two based out of Russia.
“One of those domains, which is still active, offers a service called Helfie, which is an AI bot for Discord servers targeting the Russian market. While the operation of a Russian website would not violate US sanctions preventing Americans doing business with Russian companies, it could potentially be a factor in a security clearance review,” Wired reported.
Meanwhile, Joseph Shelzi, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer told the publication that "foreign connections, whether it's foreign contacts with friends or domain names registered in foreign countries, would be flagged by any agency during the security investigation process."
Former FBI agent EJ Hilbert mentioned if he was doing a “background investigation” on Edward, he would have “recommended against hiring him for the work he’s doing.
The former CEO of Path Network where Coristine worked long after his departure added, “I’m not opposed to the idea of cleaning up the government. But I am questioning the people that are doing it.”
Another unnamed ex-U.S. intelligence analyst also shared, “There's little chance that he could have passed a background check for privileged access to government systems.”
Notably, another domain called faster.pw which although inactive since October 2022 can be traced back to “multiple encrypted cross-border networks” in China.
Besides being the founder of multiple tech companies, Big Balls has previously worked as a systems engineer at network monitoring firm Path Network between April and June of 2022.
In 2024, Coristine also worked at Elon Musk’s brain implant startup, Neuralink. The Rye Country Day School alum (batch of 2024) is now an expert at the agency’s Office of Personnel Management Records.
As per Daily Dot, he has worked as a bike mechanic and camp counselor. Big Balls has worked at his father Charles Coristine’s company LesserEvil Healthy Brands as a warehouse team member.
Notably, 25-year-old DOGE staffer Marko Elez resigned on Thursday reportedly after his past social media posts were scrutinized by the White House. He previously worked at the Treasury Department, advocated against the Civil Rights Act, and supported “eugenic” immigration policy in his since-removed accounts.
