Class Action Lawsuit Against Musk Says DOGE Must Pay Taxpayers for Federal Database Access

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A proposed class action lawsuit against Elon Musk, the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Department of the Treasury and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent contends that millions of American taxpayers, federal employees and citizens who receive government benefits are owed compensation for the “massive and unprecedented” intrusion into their private lives by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

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The 29-page class action suit, filed in Washington, D.C., federal court on February 12, charges that the defendants, who are responsible for maintaining the finances of the U.S. government, violated federal law by granting Musk and DOGE members access to sensitive personal and financial information contained within government databases.

Within a week of being sworn in as Treasury Secretary, Bessent granted Musk and individuals affiliated with DOGE full access to the Treasury’s federal payment system without any public announcement, legal justification or explanation of the decision, much less any legally requisite process for altering the agency’s disclosure policies, the lawsuit relays. 

Around the same time, the OPM, which manages access to the personal data of approximately 2 million federal employees, was allegedly told to provide data on federal workers to a former employee of Musk who the lawsuit says did not have the requisite security clearance to view the data, nor was a government employee at the time.

Prior to last month, only those with a “need to know” classification, such as those conducting background checks, could access personal sensitive information contained in government databases, and personnel with access must have undergone their own security clearance process, the case states. 

“The scale of the intrusion into individuals’ privacy is massive and unprecedented,” the case reads, arguing that millions of citizens have no way to avoid having their sensitive data maintained in government records given the necessity to engage in financial transactions with the federal government. 

Related Reading: Data Breach Class Action Lawsuits 

According to the class action lawsuit, Bessent’s actions have granted DOGE “full, continuous, and ongoing” access to citizens’ data for an unspecified period of time, with retirees, taxpayers, federal employees, and companies given no assurance that their information will receive any protection under federal law. 

Compounding matters, the filing continues, is that the defendants’ actions and decisions are “shrouded in secrecy,” with Americans not given even basic information about what personal and/or financial information belonging to them is being shared with outside parties, or how that data is being used. 

The U.S. Department of the Treasury, through the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, facilitates all financial transactions between federal agencies and American citizens, including collecting income taxes and loan payments and paying out Social Security and disability payments, tax refunds, and veterans’ benefits, the filing explains. In the course of this work, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service necessarily collects and stores in federal databases reams of sensitive data, including the details of loans and other debts owed to the government, tax information, veterans’ salaries and wages, and individuals’ identifying information, such as Social Security numbers, birth dates, home addresses, and bank account numbers, the suit relays. 

The lawsuit scathes that consumers who must share information with the federal government “should not be forced to share information with Elon Musk or his DOGE.”

“And federal law says they do not have to,” the complaint asserts, alleging the federal Privacy Act of 1974, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the IRS code (with respect to taxpayer information) makes it illegal for Bessent to hand over access to Bureau of the Fiscal Service records to Musk or other members of DOGE. 

On February 8, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer temporarily blocked DOGE’s access to the government systems used to process trillions in payments, a win for a contingent of Democratic attorneys general who sued President Donald Trump and, separately, the world’s richest man and DOGE over their “virtually unchecked power” in accessing citizens’ information. 

On February 13, Democratic senators accused Bessent of not being completely forthcoming about what DOGE workers were up to with federal payment systems. 

The class action lawsuit against Musk and Bessent looks to recover for proposed class members monetary damages, including reimbursement for credit monitoring and identity theft protection costs, for the defendants’ “systematic, continuous, and ongoing violation of federal laws that protect the privacy of personal information contained in federal records.” 

According to the filing, for fiscal year 2024, the Treasury processed nearly $5 trillion in receipts, including $2.4 trillion from individual income taxes, $1.7 trillion from Social Security taxes, and $530 billion from corporate income taxes.

The suit looks to include all persons in the United States who receive payments from or submitted payments to the U.S. government, and their family members and cohabitants, and whose personal sensitive information was accessed without their prior written authorization from the Office of Personnel Management or the Treasury beginning in January 2025. 

If certified, the proposed class may include tens of millions of American taxpayers. 

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