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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 adviser 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 Musks 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 theres 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 e-books, bootleg software and video game cheats, according to copies maintained by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit whose “Wayback Machine” preserves old websites. Stanley boasted about hacking into websites on at least two of the forums, according to archived posts, one of which dates to when he was 19. At the time, he said he had put his hacking days behind him. But a YouTube video he posted in 2014 shows his involvement in the breach of customer data from a rival hacking group, when he was 23. In response to questions for this story, the Justice Department did not directly address Stanley’s current role or his past but said he had an active security clearance that predated his employment at DOGE. In a statement to Reuters, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said she had “full trust and confidence in Chriss ability to help the federal government.” Stanley, the White House, SpaceX, and X did not respond to requests for comment. In the hours after Reuters contacted Stanley, several of his old websites vanished from the Internet Archive. Mark Graham, director of the Wayback Machine, declined to answer specific questions about the disappearance of Stanleys websites but said people who own the rights to sites can request to have their content withheld from the archive. National security professionals were largely split on how seriously to take Stanleys past. Six former Justice officials told Reuters his background raised red flags, noting that the department handles sensitive information, including details of federal investigations and other information protected by grand jury secrecy rules. I would have very serious concerns about hiring him in and giving him access to these kinds of records, said Jonathan Rusch, who spent more than 25 years as a Justice Department prosecutor before going into academia. Rusch said Stanleys background was worrisome, particularly for a Justice Department employee, because he had disclosed data which he had acquired apparently illegally. Dan Guido, whose digital security firm Trail of Bits has worked with the Justice and Defense departments, was more forgiving. Stanleys history of hacking shouldnt disqualify him from working at the DOJ, he said, citing Stanleys youthfulness and the way he targeted other hackers as mitigating factors. That is a way Ive seen a lot of people learn. Reuters could not determine Stanleys specific Justice Department responsibilities. The Deputy Attorney Generals office, run by Trumps former private attorney, Todd Blanche, oversees all the U.S. Attorneys offices, and manages criminal investigations into a range of offenses, including hacking and other malicious cyber activity. Reuters also could not establish whether Stanley remains employed by X and SpaceX. On LinkedIn, he still identifies himself as working for them and makes no reference to his Justice Department work. A profile photo on X shows him standing before the emblem for the Office of Justice Programs, an office in the department that awards grant funds. Like Musk, Stanley is classified as a “special government employee” and is not drawing a government salary, the DOJ said. PIRACY, VIDEO GAME CHEATS, AND HACKING Other members of Musks DOGE team have faced scrutiny over their backgrounds. When Reuters reported last week that DOGE staffer Edward Coristine had previously provided network infrastructure to a gang of cybercriminals, Democrats in the Republican-led House of Representatives Oversight Committee said in a post on X that it was another reason we need a full investigation into WHO is working for DOGE. Coristine has not responded to requests for comment. Starting about 10 years before joining SpaceX, Stanley ran several online forums that covered software piracy, video game cheats, and hacking. He used various pseudonyms on those sites, including eNkrypt and Reneg4d3, both of which he still uses on some social media accounts. Reuters was able to link the now-defunct forum websites and the usernames to Stanley by cross-referencing the sites registration data against his old email address and by matching Reneg4d3s biographical data to Stanleys. On some of Stanley’s earliest sites, he claimed credit for hacking. The website, fkn-pwnd.com, launched in 2006 while he was in high school, boasted of Fucking Up Servers! and featured a crude sketch of a penis, according to a copy of the site preserved by the Internet Archive. On reneg4d3.com, which he registered the following year, the archives show Stanley described how he hijacked a competing message board. Got admin access, he said in a 2008 post, just before he turned 17, describing the sites operators as stupid noobs. Easy exploit, he wrote. Around that time, a rival video game-cheating website, rev0lution-cheats.com, was hijacked and defaced with the message: This site has been hacked by RENEG4D3.com. Reneg4d3.com was suspended by its internet service provider a few months later, according to a screenshot of the site preserved by DomainTools. Reuters could not corroborate certain aspects of the hacking activity, including the identity of the site Stanley claimed credit for hijacking or the circumstances of rev0lution-cheats defacement. Stanley went on to start other websites where he and other participants discussed hacking, video-game cheating, or piracy, including error33.net and electonic.net (sic), the Internet Archives records show. I NO LONGER HACK At age 19, Stanley distanced himself from malicious cyber activity in an archived 2010 post on electonic.net, writing: “I no longer hack into Paypals, gain root access into other peoples computer (sic), or exploit online websites like StickAM”an apparent reference to a video streaming service that shut down in 2013. In that same post, he said hed been threatened with a lawsuit by the South Korean gaming company Nexon Co for “infiltrating their game software and altering certain aspects of the game.” “They did not take kindly to this,” he said. Reuters could not independently corroorate the claims of theft, computer hijacking, and software tampering, or the threatened lawsuit. A Nexon spokesperson said the company had been unable to locate any information regarding the matter. PayPal did not respond to a request for comment. Discussions on the electonic.net forum show that Stanley had not entirely left the hacking world behind. The websitelike others Stanley had createdoffered contraband ebooks and warezinternet slang for pirated software. In December 2014, when he was 23, Stanley posted footage of himself carrying out a hack of the customer database connected to Lizard Squad, a hacking group that took credit for several high-profile outages that included attacks against Sony Corp’s PlayStation Network. Reuters was unable to reach former members of Lizard Squad for comment. Stanley posted the footage to his YouTube channel, where he still goes by the Reneg4d3 nickname and uses a photo of himself with Elon Musk as his profile picture.
Category:
E-Commerce
Judge Susan Crawford preserved liberals’ narrow majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court Tuesday by defeating conservative Brad Schimel, but in a way the real loser of the election was billionaire Elon Musk.Musk and his affiliated groups sunk at least $21 million into the normally low-profile race and paid three individual voters $1 million each for signing a petition in an effort to goose turnout in the pivotal battleground state contest. That made the race the first major test of the political impact of Musk, whose prominence in President Donald Trump’s administration has skyrocketed with his chaotic cost-cutting initiative that has slashed federal agencies.Crawford and the Democrats who backed her made Musk the focus of their arguments for holding the seat, contending he was “buying” the election, which set records for the costliest judicial race in history.“Today Wisconsinites fended off an unprecedented attack on our democracy, our fair elections, and our Supreme Court,” Crawford said in her victory speech. “And Wisconsin stood up and said loudly that justice does not have a price, our courts are not for sale.”Trump endorsed Schimel as the race turned into a proxy fight over national political issues. The state’s high court can rule on cases involving voting rights and redistricting in a state likely to be at the center of both next year’s midterm elections and the 2028 presidential contest.But Musk’s involvement dialed those dynamics up to 11: “A seemingly small election could determine the fate of Western civilization,” the billionaire said Tuesday in a last-ditch call to voters on his social media site X. “I think it matters for the future of the world.”Notably, America PAC, the super PAC backed by Musk, spent at least $6 million on vendors who sent door-to-door canvassers across the state, according to the nonpartisan Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. It was a reprise of what the group did across the seven most competitive presidential battleground states, including Wisconsin, which were carried by Trump in November.But the end results this time were not good for Musk. Despite the millions he spent on Schimel, as of late Tuesday night the Supreme Court candidate was losing by four percentage points more than the other Republican-backed statewide candidate, Brittany Kinser, who also fell short in her bid for superintendent of public instruction.Musk’s court race defeat wasn’t only because of crushing Democratic margins in deep blue cities like Madison and Milwaukee. Crawford’s margins were higher in places where the Musk-backed group America PAC had been active, including Sauk County, just north of Madison, which Crawford was carrying by 10 points after Trump won it by less than two points in November.In Brown County, the home of Green Bay where Musk headlined a campaign rally with 2,000 people on Sunday, Crawford beat Schimel. Trump won the county by seven percentage points last year.Overnight, Musk posted on his X platform that “The long con of the left is corruption of the judiciary.” In another comment, he seemed to take solace from voters’ approval to elevate the state’s photo ID requirement from state law to constitutional amendment. The platform was rife with criticism from Trump opponents for his involvement in the race.“Please send @elonmusk to all the close races!” Jon Favreau, former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, wrote.“Elon Musk is not good at this,” J.B. Pritzker, Illinois’ Democratic governor and a billionaire himself who donated to support Crawford, posted on X.Voters definitely had Musk on their minds.“There’s an insane situation going on with the Trump administration, and it feels like Elon Musk is trying to buy votes,” said Kenneth Gifford, a 22-year-old Milwaukee college student, as he cast his ballot on Tuesday. “I want an actual, respectable democracy.”Others may not have had their vote decided by the billionaire but were all-too aware of the money pouring into their state.Jim Seeger, a 68-year-old retiree who previously worked in communications and marketing, said he voted for Schimel because he wants Republicans to maintain their outsized majority in Wisconsin’s congressional delegation, which could be at risk if Crawford wins and the court orders the maps redrawn. But, he added, he was disappointed the election had become a “financial race.”“I think it’s a shame that we have to spend this much money, especially on a judicial race,” Seeger said as he voted in Eau Claire.Wisconsin’s Democratic Attorney General, Josh Kaul, sued to bar Musk from making his payments to voters if they signed a petition against “activist judges.” The state Supreme Court unanimously declined to rule on the case over a technicality.Musk swooped into the race shortly after Trump’s inauguration. Republicans were pessimistic about being able to win the seat. They lost a longtime conservative majority on the state high court in 2023, and Democrats have excelled in turning out their educated, politically tuned-in coalition during obscure elections such as the one in Wisconsin.Musk duplicated and expanded on some of the methods he used in the final weeks of last year’s presidential race, when he spent more than $200 million on Trump’s behalf in the seven swing states, including Wisconsin.This time, in addition to the $1 million checks, Musk offered to pay $20 to anyone who signed up on his group’s site to knock on doors for Schimel and posted a photo of themselves as proof. His organization promised $100 to every voter who signed the petition against liberal judges and another $100 for every signer they referred.Democrats were happy to make Musk a lightning rod in the race.“People do not want to see Elon Musk buying election after election after election,” Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler said Monday. “If it works here, he’s going to do it all over the country.” Riccardi reported from Denver. Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Washington contributed to this report. Nicholas Riccardi and Thomas Beaumont, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Glen Powell has done it all on screenfrom battling storms in Twisters to trading banter in the rom-com Anyone but You. But his latest role? Its a little unexpected: reinventing the American pantry. The actor is stepping into the food world as a cofounder of Smash Kitchen, a new condiment brand hitting Walmart shelves nationwide on April 2. The line includes ketchup, mustard, mayo, and BBQ sauceall made with better-for-you ingredients like organic tomatoes and mustard seeds, cage-free organic eggs, and none of the usual suspects like high-fructose corn syrup or artificial additives. The goal? To bring all your favorite condiments under one cleaner, tastier brand. Were trying to give you the flavor that you love and youre used to, with more integrity, Powell tells Fast Company. When you look at these legacy brands, they dont evolve because they dont have to evolve. The Powell-backed brand is leaping into the $12 billion U.S. condiments category, which is projected to grow an additional $1 billion by 2029, according to market researcher Mintel. Unlike other food categories like coffee, soda, and yogurt where upstart brands have made inroads, Unilevers Hellmanns mayonnaise, Kraft Heinzs namesake ketchup, and McCormicks Frenchs mustard are the market leaders and have easily retained those positions for decades. [Image: Smash Kitchen] We have a tremendous sense of loyalty to these brands, says Matthew Barry, food and beverage insight manager at researcher Euromonitor International. People are really attached to Hellmanns and Heinz ketchup. Smash Kitchen is the first business venture that Powell has announced outside of his career as an entertainer, which began with his big screen acting debut in the 2003 film Spy Kids 3: Game Over. Powell has since racked up dozens of film and TV credits and recently formed his own production company called Barnstorm. The creation of Smash Kitchen, Powell says, was inspired by his affinity for hosting dinner parties and barbecues in Los Angeles and his home state of Texas. My family life and my favorite memories always evolved around the kitchen, says Powell. Food is how we show our love. Smash Kitchen is backed by venture capital firm Collaborative Fund, an early investor in Olipop, Sweetgreen, and Blue Bottle Coffee. Powells co-founders Smash Kitchen CEO Sameer Mehta, a cofounder of dog food brand Jinx and former VP of strategic partners at mattress company Casper, and President Sean Kane, who co-founded consumer goods purveyor the Honest Company. The trio were brought together through a mutual connection with venture capital fund Iconiq Capital founder Divesh Makan. Ultimately, you shouldn’t have to choose what’s better for your budget and and better for your health, and Glenn is super excited to be able to bring that to not only his family, but people everywhere, says Kane. Smash Kitchens pitch to shoppers is not only a focus on a cleaner nutritional label that avoids high fructose corn syrup and tomato concentrate, but prioritizing the creation of condiments that taste good. Retailers, Mehta says, told the team that people arent picking up condiments for health benefits. They are picking it up for the flavor. The more distinctive flavors from Smash Kitchen, like hot honey BBQ sauce and spicy mayo, may have greater success luring shoppers, as those flavor profiles arent as intrinsically linked to childhood memories as the classic Heinz ketchup. Weve seen hot honey get household recognition within the pizza category, says Mehta. Nobody has infused it with ketchup. Its a flavor profile that we know consumers are wanting. Theres no hot honey sauce that is so emotionally resonant and widespread among the American consumer, says Barry. Its open to disruption. Anyone could be the hot honey sauce of America. Smash Kitchens range is priced slightly above what larger rivals command. The classic 20-ounce ketchup has a standard list price of $3.97 versus Heinzs $3.48 at Walmart.com. Smashs yellow mustard is priced at $3.47, compared to $2.54 for Frenchs. Barry says inflation-wary shoppers remain particularly sensitive to grocery prices, but may be willing to spend a bit more on a cleaner ingredient label. The organic claim, he adds, has lost some luster because it has become so ubiquitous across the grocery store. If you can be a little fun treat for people, a little moment of happiness and joy at a reasonable price point, thats really prominent right now, says Barry.
Category:
E-Commerce
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