These federal workers fear ‘blackmail’ in wake of DOGE access to their personal info

CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought has put the brakes on all work at the agency, which is meant to protect consumers from financial malfeasance - (AFP via Getty Images)

Billionaire Elon Musk and his hand-picked team of “young, inexperienced engineers” wrested control over the past several days of highly sensitive systems within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, reportedly gaining access to nonpublic bank examination and enforcement records, raising broad concerns about how the world’s richest man may use the confidential information.

Now, alarmed CFPB employees — who have been locked out of their offices by Project 2025 architect Russell Vought, an alum of the right-wing Heritage Foundation’s lobbying arm and the acting head of the agency as of last Friday — fear Musk’s callow band of 19 to 25-year-olds have also been given carte blanche to rummage through, and potentially disseminate, highly sensitive personnel files, leaving them vulnerable to, among other things, blackmail attempts.