According to court documents, a federal judge has blocked Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the personal financial data of millions of United States (U.S.) citizensin the records of the Treasury Department.
U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer issued a preliminary injunction yesterday, ordering Musk and his team to immediately destroy all copies of the records.
This move followed a lawsuit by 19 state attorneys general against the Trump administration after the Department of Government Efficiency, a cost-cutting initiative led by Musk, was granted access to the documents.
They claim that granting access to Musk, a “special government employee,” and the Department of Government Efficiency, which is not an official government department, violated federal law.
There has been no comment so far from the White House, President Donald Trump, or Musk.
Democratic state attorneys general sued Trump, the Treasury Department, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday.
Engelmayer’s order, issued yesterday, states that the states would face “irreparable” harm without immediate relief.
“This is due to the risk that the new policy poses of exposing sensitive and confidential information, as well as the increased risk that the affected systems will be more vulnerable than before to hacking,” the order states.
