Exclusive: DOGE official at DOJ bragged about hacking, distributing pirated software [View all]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, April 2 (Reuters) - A top employee of billionaire Elon Musk who is now working in the U.S. Justice Department previously bragged about hacking and distributing pirated software, according to archived copies of his former websites reviewed by Reuters.

Christopher Stanley, a 33-year-old engineer who has worked at both Musk's social media company X and space-launch company SpaceX, is a senior advisor in the Deputy Attorney General's office, according to a former Justice Department official and a staff directory listing reviewed by Reuters.

Stanley was assigned there while working for Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency that President Donald Trump set up to slash the federal bureaucracy. Musk has said no "organization has been more transparent” than DOGE, but there’s been little public information on the responsibilities and background of its staff.

Stanley ran a series of websites and forums starting as far back as 2006, when he was 15, registration data preserved by the internet intelligence firm DomainTools shows. Several of those sites distributed pirated ebooks, bootleg software and video game cheats, according to copies maintained by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit whose 'Wayback Machine' preserves old websites.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/doge-official-doj-bragged-about-hacking-distributing-pirated-software-2025-04-02/