Polymarket CEO probed by FBI after Trump’s triumph

Federal agents from the FBI seized mobile devices belonging to Polymarket Shayne Coplan after users on the Polygon-based site correctly predicted Donald Trump’s victory.

The New York Post reported that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents seized Coplan’s devices during a search of Coplan’s Soho property at 6 a.m. on Nov. 13. A source with detailed knowledge of the matter reportedly said that the Polymarket CEO was woken up by FBI agents, but no reason was given for this. probe.

Coplan has not commented publicly on the incident and has remained relatively passive on X since his victory lap following the election results.

The incident, which the unnamed source described as “major political theater at its worst”, took place a week after Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in presidential election polls. Polymarket users have traded over $3 billion depending on who wins. Rates on the platform suggested Trump would peak in the weeks before the election, raising eyebrows in the US

The source told NYP that the FBI’s raid may have been an investigation into Polymarket’s operations. If true, the Fed’s list could include executives from companies like Kalshi and Robinhood. Kalshi launched the event convention for the presidential race after defeating the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in court. Robinhood later launched its own events marketplace.

Presidential betting contracts were very popular during this year’s election period. Data from these venues were constantly compared with national surveys. They have sometimes faced backlash for so-called fraudulent trading and have been accused of being influenced by both sides.

Skepticism peaked when a New York Times article said Polymarket’s contracts were manipulated by a large group of pro-Trump users. The whale, who turned out to be a French citizen, explained that his big bets were based on voting patterns and encouraged by skewed national poll data.

Theo4 raised $79 million across four accounts after Polymarket users correctly predicted Trump’s victory. Coplan’s company has risen further into the mainstream spotlight as a venue for delivering accurate user-driven results for real-world events.

The prominence brought a new wave of scrutiny to Polymarket. As crypto.news reported, the French government threatened to ban Coplan’s site and prevent users from betting on the French elections.