A New York federal judge ruled late Friday a Department of Government Efficiency staffer could access sensitive U.S. Treasury Department information, months after a group of Democratic state attorneys general sued to block DOGE’s access to private information.
Judge Jeannette A. Vargas said the DOGE staffer, Ryan Wunderly, may access payment records and any other data systems containing personal or financial information if he completes training typically required of Treasury Department employees and if he first submits a financial disclosure report.
The treasury systems contain sensitive information like Americans’ Social Security numbers and bank account information.
Wunderly was hired as DOGE’s special adviser to the Treasury Department as part of Elon Musk’s effort to slash government spending in February, replacing Marko Elez, who resigned, and was later rehired to a different division, after a history of racist social media posts resurfaced.
In February, a group of 19 Democratic attorneys general, led by New York’s Letitia James, filed a lawsuit to block DOGE from accessing Treasury information. “Musk and DOGE have no authority to access Americans’ private information and some of our country’s most sensitive data,” James said at the time, stating the lawsuit was filed to “prevent any unconstitutional freeze on essential funding that Americans rely on every day.” Vargas issued an order blocking DOGE’s access to Treasury information while the lawsuit was still pending. Lawyers representing the coalition of attorneys general argued in court they feared Musk would pause Treasury payments based on an “ideological litmus test,” and that giving DOGE staffers such information created a security risk, the New York Times reported.
DOGE’s access to Treasury data prompted criticism from Democrats. In February, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the highest ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent voicing concern that “officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs,” adding, “These payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy.” A crowd, including congressional Democrats, protested outside the Treasury building in Washington, D.C., in February. “He has access to all our information, our social security numbers, the federal payment system. What’s going to stop him from stealing taxpayer money?” Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., said at the protest. Other members of Congress at the protest included Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass. and Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas.
Democrats join protest against Musk’s ‘hostile takeover’ of federal payment systems (The Guardian)
New York leads multistate lawsuit to block DOGE from accessing Americans’ personal data (NBC News)
