Elon Musk Chief Nerd's Elaborate $1,000 Troll Scam
One of Elon Musk's geek army is trolling his new fans by charging $1,000 to read a manifesto about why he signed up with DOGE - only to find the post is blank.
Gavin Kliger, 25, is one of six baby-faced boys with little-to-no federal government experience handpicked by the 'First Buddy' to sow havoc in the civil service.
He was the one who sent a company-wide email sent out to staff members at USAID telling them not to come into the company's Washington DC head office on Monday.
Kliger sent the instruction from a USAID email address he was offered with as part of high-level access to its systems, together with fellow DOGE nerd Luke Farritor.
While the staff were kept home, DOGE gained access to the agency's IT system, building security, and classified products, and started dismantling it.
Just hours before he sent out the email, Kliger made a post on his Substack page titled: 'Why DOGE. Why I provided up a seven-figure wage to conserve America.'
Unlike the rest of his Substack, the post was 'customer just' with a $1,000-a-month cost - or $10,000 for a whole year - to access a single word of it.
However, those who wondered enough to cough up the extraordinary cost discovered there wasn't even that - the post was entirely blank.
Gavin Kliger, 25, is among six baby-faced young boys with little-to-no government experience handpicked by Elon Musk to sow havoc in the civil service
Kliger made a post on his Substack page entitled: 'Why DOGE. Why I quit a seven-figure wage to conserve America'. Despite a $1,000 paywall, it is completely empty
'Poetically blank, please review your life choices,' one discuss the post read.
Kliger advanced his sophisticated trolling with an unusual voicemail greeting that pointed anyone who called his registered contact number to the post.
'I simply wrote a stunning Substack on this, the Weekly Byte, if you just go there, it lags the paywall, but I think it will address that concern for you ... it's respectable,' he said.
The one-minute welcoming was an extended variation of the trick where the owner of the phone pretends to address, however it is really tape-recorded.
Kliger first pretended he was driving through a tunnel and having difficulty hearing the call, then eventually exclaiming, 'They said what? No, no, I do not think that's right.'
The tape-recorded message then made its pitch for the caller to read his Substack.
Despite its name, the Substack was not upgraded weekly, and just has two other posts - both of which are totally free to check out.
Despite its name, Kliger's Substack was not updated weekly, and only has 3 posts
Unlike the rest of his Substack, the post was 'customer just' with a $1,000-a-month charge - or $10,000 for a whole year - to access a single word of it
They are both strident defenses of Donald Trump's most questionable cabinet nominations - Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth.
Gaetz was nominated for attorney-general but withdrew after a damning House report found he paid for sex with 17-year-old woman and many other misconducts.
Kliger's post entitled 'The Curious Case of Matt Gaetz: How the Deep State Destroys Its Enemies' depicted Gaetz as an innocent victim who was 'framed'.
His other post, 'Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense: The Warrior Washington Fears', utahsyardsale.com was a passionate defense of the previous Fox News host's nomination filled with regular Trump-ally talking points.
Hegseth was narrowly confirmed by the Senate regardless of his history of alcohol abuse and claims of sexual attack and harassment.
Kliger's claim that he left a 'seven-figure job' to join DOGE is also suspicious as his economic sector work history didn't include such a function.
His latest task, according to his LinkedIn, was as a 'senior software engineer' at Databricks, a cloud computing company in San Francisco, from May 2020 to last month.
Salaries for that position at Databricks range from $102,000 to $308,000 a year according to Certainly, while Glassdoor puts the leading end at $321,000, consisting of benefit.
Kliger was the one who sent out a company-wide email sent to employees at USAID telling them not to come into the firm's Washington DC head office on Monday
The Berkeley graduate supposedly instructed all employees at the company not to return to Washington head office on Monday
Kliger graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2020 and interned at Twitter in 2019 - well before Musk's takeover in 2022.
Musk last month selected him an unique consultant to the director for details innovation at the Office of Personnel Management, where various other Musk lackeys were installed.
The Tesla owner has actually essentially taken control of the OPM, together with the General Services Administration, through his leadership of DOGE.
Kliger's now-deleted Github from his time at Berkeley claims he is an Eagle Scout, National Merit Scholar, National AP Scholar, a black belt very first dan in Taekwondo, and an accomplished pianist.
'I wish to do work that will affect the future,' it read.
'Whether that implies establishing software application, looking into system deployment, or working in some other sphere, I know that I will contribute insight and imagination towards satisfying the obstacles I face.
'In my extra time, I take pleasure in playing the piano and clarinet and going to music concerts at Berkeley. One of my favorite pastimes is playing online blitz chess.'
Kliger's dad, Larry Kliger, is president of Lawrence Allen & Associates, an industrial property company.
Musk last month designated Kliger a special advisor to the director for details innovation at the Office of Personnel Management, where numerous other Musk lackeys were installed
Who are Musk's other geeks?
Musk employed a performers of boys aged 19 to 25 - three of whom are believed to still remain in college - to fill high-powered engineering roles and cut expenses.
At just 19, Edward Coristine is the youngest of the fresh-faced lot handling business America and longstanding federal government institutions.
According to WIRED, he's been dubbed an 'professional' in his field, and specifics about his role aren't yet clear.
Akash Bobba, 21, Ethan Shaotran, 22, and Luke Farritor, 23, in addition to Coristine, have reportedly been given A-suite level clearance for their work, suggesting they can work out of the company's top flooring with access to all physical spaces and IT systems.
Musk's DOGE has been quickly growing in power and broadening its remit, most recently securing clearance to access to limited parts of the General Services Administration structures and IT systems.
These systems store delicate information consisting of social security numbers, addresses and contact details.
Elon Musk got a troupe of boys aged 19 to 25 - three of whom are thought to still remain in college - to fill high-powered engineering functions and cut expenses
Finally, Gautier Cole Killian has actually been called for his function with DOGE, which is apparently on a 'volunteer' basis at this phase.
After prevalent criticism about the men's youth, Musk launched a declaration about the appointments.
'Time to confess: Media reports saying that DOGE has a few of world's best software engineers remain in reality real,' Musk composed on X.
Luke Farritor, 23
Luke Farritor has a recognized link to Musk already, having interned for SpaceX prior to landing his new gig.
Farritor, left of the University of Nebraska in order to start working for Nat Friedman, the Silicon Valley business owner behind GitHub.
Friedman explained Farritor as 'a nationwide treasure' after his consultation with DOGE was made public.
He won part of a $700,000 reward in 2024 after using AI technology to help understand yewiki.org a 2,000 year old document - part of the Vesuvius scrolls from Pompeii - which scientists had been attempting, and failing, to resolve for centuries.
The charred scroll was thought scorched beyond acknowledgment.
Luke Farritor has a known link to Musk currently, having interned for SpaceX prior to landing his brand-new gig
Edward Coristine, 19
The youngest of Musk's elite team is just 19 and farmwoo.com a trainee at Northeastern University in Boston.
Coristine supposedly interned at Musk's Neuralink for three months last summertime, after finishing high school.
Little is known about Coristine's function at DOGE, however he is listed as an 'professional.'
WIRED mentioned sources declaring Coristine has been conducting calls with staff in the department and making them 'go over code they had composed and justify their tasks.'
Employees were presumably confused by his addition in the meetings, and later on expressed issues that they were not effectively informed on his identity or function, even throughout the call.
Coristine's daddy, Charles, is the president of popcorn empire, LesserEvil. Coristine when worked as a staff member for the brand.
Up until just recently, Coristine supposedly utilized a handle named '@EdwardBigBaller.'
The youngest of Musk's elite team is just 19 and a trainee at Northeastern University in Boston
Akash Bobba, 21
Bobba is another 'professional' within the department still studying at the University of California, Berkeley.
According to a previous LinkedIn account, which has actually because been deleted, Bobba was a financial investment engineering intern at a hedge fund.
He had actually likewise previously interned for Meta and Palantir - who was established by 2016 MAGA donor, Peter Thiel.
Just six years ago, Bobba was the organizer behind the Princeton Junction, New Jersey, regional model United Nations. His father is an academic in computer science.
Bobba spoke at his graduation ceremony from West Windsor-Plainsboro South High School in July 2021, informing his schoolmates to 'value the intricacy in life'.
" We live in an age where simpleness rules supreme, where 30-second TikToks and 280-character tweets pertain to define our identities,' he said.
'This increasing willingness to streamline even the most complicated narratives into spectacular tidbits, perpetuates misinformation and while doing so divides the neighborhoods, households, and relationships we cherish.
'What's the solution, you might ask? Seek pain.'
Bobba is another 'specialist' within the department still studying at the University of California, Berkeley
Ethan Shaotran, 22
Shaortran established Energize AI - a scheduling assistant for professionals. The start-up earned a $100,000 grant from OpenAI in 2023.
The 22-year-old said in September he was a senior at Harvard University, and was operating in the school's computing lab on self-governing cars.
Musk is famously trying to develop self-driving cars at his Tesla head office.
Shaortran is part of the Harvard Mountaineering Club and worked as a scuba divemaster in Hawaii over a space year.
He also has a link to Musk, having taken part in his xAI 'hackathon'. He and his group were runner ups after they used xAI's Grok to create possible reactions from X followers to a hypothetical concern.
Shaortran established Energize AI - a scheduling assistant for professionals. The start-up made a $100,000 grant from OpenAI in 2023
Gautier Cole Killian, 24
Killian was working as an engineer at Jump Trading, which focuses on high-frequency financial trades and algorithms.
Now, he is reportedly working as a 'volunteer' with DOGE, although in what capability remains uncertain.
The 24-year-old graduated McGill University.
Killian was working as an engineer at Jump Trading, which focuses on high-frequency monetary trades and algorithms
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Musk's DOGE boasts sweeping power
Musk is leading an amazing civilian evaluation of the federal government with Trump's contract.
'It became apparent that it's not an apple with a worm it in,' Musk said in a live session on X Spaces early Monday.
'What we have is simply a ball of worms. You have actually got to basically get rid of the entire thing. It's beyond repair.'
Musk just recently hinted he was also the mastermind behind Trump's choice to purge federal workers by posting a symbolic picture on X harkening back to his infamous Twitter cleanse.
At the time, he sent a letter to personnel titled: 'A Fork in the Road.' The same title was utilized in Trump's current email proposing generous lay-off packages
Musk later on shared on X that he commissioned an art work of an enormous fork standing in the roadway, showing it was all connected.
Musk does not hold elected office, but on Monday was formally appointed a 'unique federal government employee' by the White House.
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