DOGE Engineer 'Big Balls' Coristine Collaborates With Right-Wing Influencer on Fraud Investigation Videos

Edward Coristine, the 19-year-old DOGE engineer known online as "Big Balls," appeared on right-wing influencer Nick Shirley's podcast this week, acknowledging that he personally pulled Medicaid spending data that Shirley used to produce viral fraud investigation videos targeting immigrant communities.

The collaboration highlights the growing intersection between DOGE's government data operations and right-wing social media content creators. Coristine told Shirley the government must create more opportunities for citizens to crowdsource fraud investigations using open-sourced government data.

The data allegedly came from a DOGE-published HHS dataset in February, described by the team as "the largest Medicaid dataset in department history." Shirley's previous investigation into alleged childcare fraud in Minnesota became a catalyst for the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in the state, resulting in mass arrests and the deaths of two protesters.

Before joining DOGE, Coristine worked at Elon Musk's Neuralink and founded a startup known for hiring black hat hackers. He was staffed across multiple agencies including the Social Security Administration and Small Business Administration despite having no prior government experience.

The collaboration exemplifies what critics describe as the weaponization of government data for political purposes, with Shirley's YouTube videos serving as evidence for immigration enforcement actions. In the interview, both directly tied fraud to immigrant communities without providing specific evidence.