FBI agents reportedly confiscated the phone and electronics of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan after raiding his Manhattan residence. The criminal investigation, conducted by the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, comes a week after the US presidential election.
According to a NYPost report, sources close to the case suspect the raid was “political payback.” The cryptocurrency-powered gambling website allowed US users to place bets in defiance of a settlement with the government, the sources added.
Polymarket accurately predicted Donald Trump ‘s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, contrary to traditional opinion polls.
“This is an obvious political payback by the outgoing administration on Polymarket for providing a market that correctly announced the 2024 presidential election.” The 26-year-old Coplan’s home was raided at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday by agents who demanded that he surrender his phone and other electronic devices, the report said. One source called the raid “the worst grand political theater.”
“They could have asked his lawyer for any of these things,” a – the Post informant said. “Instead, they organized a so-called raid so they could leak the information to the media and use it for obvious political purposes.”
In addition, sources suspect that the government is taking advantage of liberal media reports of market manipulation against Polymarket.
The New York Times reports that a law enforcement official confirmed that FBI agents carried out “court-approved law enforcement actions.”
Coplan was not arrested and has not been charged, a Polymarket spokesman confirmed. A representative for the website added that Polymarket is a “fully transparent prediction market,” helping people better understand the events that matter.
“We don’t charge any fees, we don’t take any trading positions and we allow observers from all over the world to analyze all market data as a public good.”
The betting platform gave Trump a 58.6% chance of winning, a day before Election Day, while Kamala Harris’ odds were 41.4%. Billionaires such as Peter Thiel backed Polymarket, raising $70 million in funding, Forbes previously reported.
According to Bloomberg, the Justice Department is separately investigating Polymarket for allegedly allowing US-based users to place bets.
The election betting site got into trouble in 2022 and paid a $1.4 million fine to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The platform failed to register with the agency as required and was forced to halt trading at the same time.
