Latest news with #Gioeli
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Treasury 'mistakenly' gave Musk DOGE worker ability to change payments system: court docs
Marko Elez — who before resigning from the Treasury Department had been a member of Treasury's Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) team — was "mistakenly" given "read/write permissions" on the Secure Payment System rather than "read-only," Joseph Gioeli III of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service declared in a court filing. The filing is connected to a case in which President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were slapped with restrictions regarding who they can grant access to Treasury Department systems that hold "personally identifiable information and/or confidential financial information of payees[.]" "On the morning of February 6, it was discovered that Mr. Elez's database access to SPS on February 5 had mistakenly been configured with read/write permissions instead of read-only. A forensic investigation was immediately initiated by database administrators to review all activities performed on that server and database," Gioeli noted in his filing. But he explained that the issue was quickly addressed after it was uncovered. Treasury Department Says Doge Will Have 'Read Only' Access To Payment Systems In Letter To Congress "His access was promptly corrected to read-only, and he did not log into the system again after his initial virtual over-the shoulder session on February 5," Gioeli noted. Read On The Fox News App "To the best of our knowledge, Mr. Elez never knew of the fact that he briefly had read/write permissions for the SPS database, and never took any action to exercise the 'write' privileges in order to modify anything within the SPS database – indeed, he never logged in during the time that he had read/write privileges, other than during the virtual walk-through – and forensic analysis is currently underway to confirm this." Fox News Digital reached out on Wednesday to the Treasury Department, the White House, a DOGE spokesperson and the U.S. Digital Service — which Trump, in an executive order, declared to be "publicly renamed as the United States DOGE Service" — but did not receive any responses in time for publication. Trump Admin Files Motion To Vacate Restraining Order Prohibiting Doge Access To Treasury Payment Systems Thomas H. Krause, Jr. indicated in a court filing that he is "employed as the Senior Advisor for Technology and Modernization at the Department of the Treasury," and that the post "is currently unpaid," but that he is "not seeking compensation" for the job. "I am also designated as a Special Government Employee (SGE)," Krause wrote, noting that "the Treasury Secretary delegated the performance of duties of the Fiscal Assistant Secretary to me, although I have not yet assumed those duties." Krause said that he is currently "the only Treasury DOGE team member," and that he is not a U.S. DOGE Service employee. "Although I coordinate with officials at USDS/DOGE, provide them with regular updates on the team's progress, and receive high-level policy direction from them, I am not an employee of USDS/DOGE," Krause noted. "A second Treasury DOGE team member, Marko Elez, began working at the Treasury Department on Jan. 21, 2025, but resigned from his role on February 6, 2025," Krause indicated. "Marko Elez is a highly qualified software engineer who previously worked at several of Elon Musk's companies, including SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter)." Trump tasked business tycoon Elon Musk with spearheading the DOGE effort, which aims to root out government waste, fraud, and abuse. "As noted in the Gioeli Declaration, I understand from BFS that there was briefly an error that provided Mr. Elez read/write access to the SPS system, but that Mr. Elez did not access that system during that time, and was likely unaware that he had any such read/write access," Krause stated in a footnote of his filing. Trump 100% Disagrees With Federal Judge's 'Crazy' Ruling Blocking Doge From Treasury System Click To Get The Fox News App The Wall Street Journal reported that Elez was tied to a deleted social media account that made racist remarks, such as "You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity," and "Normalize Indian hate." But after Elez's resignation, Vice President JD Vance advocated for reinstatement, noting in a post on X that he did not "think stupid social media activity should ruin a kid's life." Musk responded, "He will be brought back. To err is human, to forgive divine."Original article source: Treasury 'mistakenly' gave Musk DOGE worker ability to change payments system: court docs
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Treasury Department revokes access ‘mistakenly' given to Musk aide
A former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer 'mistakenly' received editing access to a sensitive federal payment system at the Treasury Department for a brief period last week before staff revoked his capabilities. Marko Elez, a 25-year-old DOGE staffer who resigned Friday, did not use the additional privileges to make any changes to the database, Treasury Department official Joseph Gioeli III said in a court filing Tuesday. 'To the best of our knowledge, Mr. Elez never knew of the fact that he briefly had read/write permissions for the SPS database, and never took any action to exercise the 'write' privileges in order to modify anything within the SPS database,' Gioeli said. Gioeli is a deputy commissioner at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which oversees the system that handles 90 percent of federal payments. Treasury Department officials previously said Elez and Cloud Software Group CEO Tom Krause received read-only access to the sensitive payment system, after the DOGE team's access sparked outcry from Democrats and other outside observers. Gioeli explained in the filing that Elez was the only employee who received direct access to the Fiscal Service system and its source code, although he was limited to 'read-only' access and could not make any changes. Krause, on the other hand, was given 'over the shoulder' access, meaning he could view the system while it was accessed by another person with the required permissions. '[I]t was agreed that in the near-term only a single Treasury employee, Mr. Elez, would be designated as the 'technical team member' who would exercise this read-only access,' Gioeli said. Treasury Department staff discovered Thursday that Elez's access to one portion of the Fiscal Service, known as the Secure Payment System (SPS), 'had mistakenly been configured with read/write permissions instead of read-only.' An initial investigation found that Elez had only accessed the system during a 'supervised, walk-through session' with staff the day before and his access was 'promptly corrected' to read-only. 'While forensic analysis is still ongoing, Bureau personnel have conducted preliminary reviews of logs of his activity both on his laptop and within the systems and at this time have found no indication of any unauthorized use,' Gioeli wrote. Elez resigned Friday after The Wall Street Journal uncovered several racist social media posts he made from a now-deleted account. DOGE leader Elon Musk said the 25-year-old would be rehired, a move that was supported by Vice President Vance. However, several recent court filings have said Elez is no longer employed by the Treasury Department. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
DOGE staffer accused of racist posts was ‘mistakenly' given power to alter federal payments system
A 25-year-old former staffer for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency 'mistakenly' gained access to alter a sensitive federal payments database within the Treasury Department, according to a new report. Senior Treasury officials said Marko Elez was 'mistakenly' and 'briefly' granted 'read/write' privileges to the secure system on February 5, according to sworn declarations reviewed by Politico. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously claimed DOGE staffers had 'read-only' access to the federal payment systems, and other Treasury officials have made similar claims in court filings, the outlet reported. The discovery comes from a series of court filings amid the Trump battle against a judge's order that barred political appointees from accessing the Treasury Department's payment system. The judge later clarified Bessent and other appointees confirmed by the Senate could access the system. Joseph Gioeli, a deputy commissioner of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, said the Treasury Department is now investigating how Elez gained read/write access, Politico reports. Gioeli said an 'initial investigation' showed Elez did not modify the database, despite having access to do so. 'The Bureau used several cybersecurity tools to monitor Mr. Elez's usage and continuously log his activity,' Gioeli said, according to Politico. 'A forensic investigation was immediately initiated by database administrators to review all activities performed on that server and database,' Gioeli added. 'The Bureau is in the process of reviewing the logs of Mr. Elez's activity on his Bureau laptop, and this review remains ongoing.' Elez, who formerly worked for Musk's SpaceX, resigned from DOGE last week after The Wall Street Journal inquired about racist posts from an account he was linked to. He has not been reinstated as of Wednesday. 'You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,' one post read. 'Normalize Indian hate,' another post said. Elez also posted about the Israel-Hamas conflict: 'I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth.' Trump signed an executive order Tuesday requiring agencies to cooperate with DOGE, granting the agency even more power than it already has. When Musk was asked about critics who have labeled DOGE's activity a 'hostile takeover' of the executive branch, he told reporters: 'The people voted for major government reform and that's what the people are going to get.' The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
The Independent
12-02-2025
- Business
- The Independent
DOGE staffer accused of racist posts was ‘mistakenly' given power to alter federal payments system
A 25-year-old former staffer for Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency 'mistakenly' gained access to alter a sensitive federal payments database within the Treasury Department, according to a new report. Senior Treasury officials said Marko Elez was 'mistakenly' and 'briefly' granted 'read/write' privileges to the secure system on February 5, according to sworn declarations reviewed by Politico. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously claimed DOGE staffers had 'read-only' access to the federal payment systems, and other Treasury officials have made similar claims in court filings, the outlet reported. The discovery comes from a series of court filings amid the Trump battle against a judge's order that barred political appointees from accessing the Treasury Department 's payment system. The judge later clarified Bessent and other appointees confirmed by the Senate could access the system. Joseph Gioeli, a deputy commissioner of the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, said the Treasury Department is now investigating how Elez gained read/write access, Politico reports. Gioeli said an 'initial investigation' showed Elez did not modify the database, despite having access to do so. 'The Bureau used several cybersecurity tools to monitor Mr. Elez's usage and continuously log his activity,' Gioeli said, according to Politico. 'A forensic investigation was immediately initiated by database administrators to review all activities performed on that server and database,' Gioeli added. 'The Bureau is in the process of reviewing the logs of Mr. Elez's activity on his Bureau laptop, and this review remains ongoing.' Elez, who formerly worked for Musk's SpaceX, resigned from DOGE last week after The Wall Street Journal inquired about racist posts from an account he was linked to. He has not been reinstated as of Wednesday. 'You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,' one post read. 'Normalize Indian hate,' another post said. Elez also posted about the Israel-Hamas conflict: 'I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth.' Trump signed an executive order Tuesday requiring agencies to cooperate with DOGE, granting the agency even more power than it already has. When Musk was asked about critics who have labeled DOGE's activity a 'hostile takeover' of the executive branch, he told reporters: 'The people voted for major government reform and that's what the people are going to get.'
The Hill
12-02-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Treasury revokes access ‘mistakenly' given to Musk aide
A former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) 'mistakenly' received editing access to a sensitive federal payment system at the Treasury Department for a brief period last week before staff revoked his capabilities. Marko Elez, a 25-year-old DOGE staffer who resigned Friday, did not use the additional privileges to make any changes to the database, Treasury official Joseph Gioeli III said in a court filing Tuesday. 'To the best of our knowledge, Mr. Elez never knew of the fact that he briefly had read/write permissions for the SPS database, and never took any action to exercise the 'write' privileges in order to modify anything within the SPS database,' Gioeli said. Gioeli is a deputy commissioner at the Bureau of Fiscal Service, which oversees the system that handles 90 percent of federal payments. Treasury officials previously said Elez and Cloud Software Group CEO Tom Krause received read-only access to the sensitive payment system, after the DOGE team's access sparked outcry from Democrats and other outside observers. Gioeli explained in the filing that Elez was the only employee who received direct access to the Fiscal Service system and its source code, although he was limited to 'read-only' access and could not make any changes. Krause, on the other hand, was given 'over the shoulder' access, meaning he could view the system while it was accessed by another person with the required permissions. '[I]t was agreed that in the near-term only a single Treasury employee, Mr. Elez, would be designated as the 'technical team member' who would exercise this read-only access,' Gioeli said. Treasury staff discovered Thursday that Elez's access to one portion of the Fiscal Service, known as the Secure Payment System, 'had mistakenly been configured with read/write permissions instead of read-only.' An initial investigation found that Elez had only accessed the system during a 'supervised, walk-through session' with staff the day before and his access was 'promptly corrected' to read-only. 'While forensic analysis is still ongoing, Bureau personnel have conducted preliminary reviews of logs of his activity both on his laptop and within the systems and at this time have found no indication of any unauthorized use,' Gioeli wrote. Elez resigned on Friday after The Wall Street uncovered several racist social media posts he made from a now-deleted account. DOGE chair Elon Musk said the 25-year-old would be rehired, a move that was supported by Vice President JD Vance. However, several recent court filings have said Elez is no longer employed by the Treasury.
