By Jack Queen

(Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department has agreed not to give Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency access to its payment systems while a judge hears arguments in a lawsuit alleging that the billionaire adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump illegally searched them.

The deal struck on Wednesday night by Treasury and a group of federal employee unions and retirees will prevent billions of sensitive government payment records from being turned over to Musk’s agency as part of its campaign to shrink the federal bureaucracy and crack down on fraudulent spending.

In their Monday lawsuit in Washington, D.C., federal court, the employee unions and retirees claimed Treasury violated privacy laws by giving Musk and DOGE “full access” to government payment records, including income tax payments, social security benefits, and federal employee salaries.

During a hearing on Wednesday, Treasury lawyers denied violating privacy laws, stating only two DOGE-affiliated individuals had been granted read-only access to its payment systems. Both individuals were special government employees of the Treasury, according to the lawyers.

Still, the government reached an initial agreement with the plaintiffs to prevent anyone else affiliated with DOGE from accessing the records while the case is ongoing.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business on Wednesday that the department’s payment system will remain untouched by Musk, emphasizing that any decisions regarding payment stoppages would be made by other agencies.