Marko Elez (born 1999 or 2000) is an American software engineer and a government employee as part of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He came under public scrutiny after being granted administrator-level access to critical U.S. Treasury payment systems, despite having no previous experience in government or finance.[1]

Education and career

Marko Elez graduated from Rutgers University in 2021, where he studied software development and distributed systems.[1] After graduating, Elez worked at SpaceX, where he was involved in vehicle telemetry, Starship software, and satellite systems.[2] He later joined X (formerly Twitter), focusing on search AI and software development. He also began working at xAI, where he was listed as an active employee as of February 2025.[3] His work experience prior to DOGE was exclusively within Elon Musk's companies.[4]

Department of Government Efficiency

Elez was appointed to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and subsequently given administrator-level access to the Payment Automation Manager and Secure Payment System at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS).[1] His privileges allowed him to modify critical financial infrastructure, despite concerns from Treasury officials and lawmakers. In early February 2025, Elez visited a Treasury facility in Kansas City, meeting with BFS staff and gaining deeper insight into the federal payment processing system.[5][6] His access to treasury systems was restricted on February 5.[7]

Concerns remain that DOGE's influence could allow for politically motivated financial decisions.[4] Treasury officials revoked Elez's system access on February 5. In court filings on February 11, the Treasury Department acknowledged that Elez had been inadvertently granted read/write permissions to the payment system, revising their previous assertion that he had only read-only access.[8][9] The government maintained that Elez had not used his ability to edit treasury systems.[10][11]

DOGE resignation and reinstatement

Elez resigned from DOGE on February 6, 2025, after being linked to a now-deleted social media account containing racist content; the account had also posted in support of eugenics.[12] The Tweets made by the account, under the handle @nullllptr,[12] included statements such as "I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth" in June 2024 and "Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool" in July 2024. In September 2024, shortly before the account's deletion, it posted, "You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity" and "Normalize Indian hate."[13][14][15]

The following day, Elon Musk initiated a poll on X asking users whether Elez should be rehired.[16][17] The majority of the 385,000 X users polled said that Elez should be rehired.[18] Musk stated that "to err is human, to forgive divine."[19][20]

Vice President JD Vance subsequently advocated for Elez's reinstatement.[21][22][23] Vance wrote in a post on X that while he did not agree "with some of Elez's posts... I don't think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid's life."[24] President Donald Trump endorsed Vance's position at a news conference, after which Musk announced Elez's reinstatement.[25][26][27] Some Indian American groups protested the decision to rehire Elez.[28] U.S. representative Ro Khanna challenged JD Vance directly over the decision.[29][30]

Elez subsequently appeared on a roster of DOGE employees, with a government email address linked to the Executive Office of the President.[31] Later that week, he was reportedly reinstated at the Social Security Administration.[32]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Elliott, Vittoria; Mehrotra, Dhruv; Feiger, Leah; Marchman, Tim (February 4, 2025). "Elon Musk Associate Given Access to Treasury Payment Systems". Wired. Archived from the original on February 5, 2025. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  2. ^ Liddell, James (February 4, 2025). "Elon Musk's Treasury Influence Sparks Lawsuit". The Independent. Archived from the original on February 6, 2025. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  3. ^ Kay, Grace (February 21, 2025). "Marko Elez, who left DOGE amid social media controversy, worked for xAI". Business Insider. Retrieved February 24, 2025.
  4. ^ a b Rashid, Hafiz (February 5, 2025). "Elon Musk's 25-Year-Old Aide Granted Access to Treasury Department Code". The New Republic. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  5. ^ Bleiberg, Jake; Dendrinou, Viktoria; Korte, Gregory (February 4, 2025). "Treasury Brings in Two Members from Musk's DOGE Team". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on February 4, 2025. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  6. ^ "Young Engineer at Elon Musk's DOGE Gains Access to Secret US Payment System". The Times of India. February 5, 2025. Retrieved February 5, 2025.
  7. ^ Tangermann, Victor (February 7, 2025). "Elon's Doge Boy Who "Resigned" Was Apparently Doing Something Very Naughty With the Treasury's Code". Futurism. Retrieved February 8, 2025.
  8. ^ Stein, Jeff (February 11, 2025). "Treasury revoked editing access 'mistakenly' given to DOGE staffer". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 11, 2025.
  9. ^ Hawkinson, Katie (February 12, 2025). "DOGE staffer accused of racist posts was 'mistakenly' given power to alter federal payments system". The Independent. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  10. ^ Shapero, Julia (February 12, 2025). "Treasury Department revokes access 'mistakenly' given to Musk aide". The Hill. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  11. ^ Pavia, Will (February 13, 2025). "Doge tech bro, 25, handed control of US Treasury payments 'by mistake'". The Times. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  12. ^ a b Long, Katherine (February 6, 2025). "DOGE Staffer Resigns Over Racist Posts". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  13. ^ Mangan, Dan; Breuninger, Kevin (February 6, 2025). "Staffer at Musk's DOGE resigns after racist social media posts exposed". CNBC. Archived from the original on February 6, 2025. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  14. ^ Allyn, Bobby; Bond, Shannon (February 7, 2025). "Member of Elon Musk's DOGE team resigns after racist posts resurface". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on February 7, 2025. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  15. ^ Honderich, Holly (February 7, 2025). "Member of Musk's Doge resigns after reports of racist posts". BBC. Archived from the original on February 7, 2025. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  16. ^ Mangan, Dan (February 7, 2025). "DOGE chief Elon Musk polls X users on whether staffer who quit over racist tweets should be rehired". CNBC. Archived from the original on February 7, 2025. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  17. ^ Nazzaro, Miranda (February 7, 2025). "Musk asks X if he should rehire DOGE staffer under fire for racist posts". The Hill. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  18. ^ "Musk vows to rehire deputy who apparently joked about annihilation of Israel and Gaza". The Times of Israel. Agence France-Presse. February 8, 2025. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  19. ^ Asher-Schapiro, Avi; et al. (February 6, 2025). "Elon Musk's Demolition Crew". ProPublica. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
  20. ^ "'To err is human, to forgive divine': Elon Musk to rehire employee who resigned after giving 'normalise hate against Indians' remark". The Times of India. February 8, 2025. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  21. ^ Mangan, Dan; Breuninger, Kevin (February 7, 2025). "Vance tells Musk that DOGE staffer who resigned after posting racist tweets should be rehired". CNBC. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  22. ^ Mac, Ryan; Conger, Kate (February 7, 2025). "Vance and Trump Call for Rehiring of DOGE Staffer Who Quit Over Racist Posts". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 7, 2025. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  23. ^ Price, Michelle L. (February 7, 2025). "Musk says he will bring back DOGE staffer who resigned after a report of racist postings". Associated Press. Retrieved February 24, 2025.
  24. ^ Honderich, Holly (February 7, 2025). "Musk to rehire Doge aide who resigned over racist posts". BBC. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  25. ^ Abbruzzese, Jason (February 7, 2025). "Elon Musk says DOGE staffer who resigned for racist X posts will be brought back". NBC News. Retrieved February 7, 2025. Elon Musk said Friday that he will bring back a DOGE staff member who resigned after it was found that he had previously made racist remarks online.
  26. ^ Garrison, Joey (February 7, 2025). "Musk reinstates DOGE staffer who resigned over racist posts after JD Vance leads outcry". USA Today. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  27. ^ Rubin, April (February 7, 2025). "Musk says DOGE staffer who resigned over racist tweets "will be brought back"". Axios. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  28. ^ Thakur, Purav (February 11, 2025). "Normalising Indian hate: How Indian-Americans are fighting back in US". India Today. Retrieved February 14, 2025.
  29. ^ Timotija, Filip (February 7, 2025). "'Grow up': Vance, Khanna spar over rehiring DOGE staffer". The Hill. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  30. ^ "Marko Elez's exit over 'normalize Indian hate', rehiring, JD Vance vs Ro Khanna: Here's what happened so far". The Times of India. February 9, 2025. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved February 15, 2025.
  31. ^ Birnbaum, Emily; Bleiberg, Jake; Hull, Dana (February 20, 2025). "DOGE Staffer Behind Racist Posts Reappears at Social Security". Bloomberg. Retrieved February 24, 2025.
  32. ^ Woodward, Alex (February 21, 2025). "DOGE staffer accused of racist posts reinstated at Social Security". The Independent. Retrieved February 24, 2025.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marko_Elez
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