Teen Nicknamed “Big Balls” Leaves Trump’s Cost‑Cutting Team After Exposing Wasteful Spending
A 19-year-old coder, Edward Coristine—widely known online as “Big Balls”—has officially stepped down from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a signature initiative of U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at reducing federal waste and improving spending transparency.
Coristine became a viral figure after revealing that the U.S. Treasury’s internal payment systems were riddled with vulnerabilities, stating they “literally have no checks and no accountability.” He described discovering countless payments that lacked clear documentation or identifiers—what he called a “huge vector for fraud, waste, and abuse.”
His resignation comes shortly after DOGE’s former head, Elon Musk, also exited the team. DOGE, since its launch, has claimed roughly $180 billion in cost savings through cuts to government contracts, fraud prevention, and the sale of unused federal assets.
Despite his youth and online persona, Coristine was deeply involved in back-end system analysis, but also drew criticism for his limited public-sector experience. White House officials defended his contributions, while some lawmakers voiced concern over access levels granted to a teenage app developer.
With input from Fox News
