{"id":6903,"date":"2026-09-11T19:37:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=6903"},"modified":"2026-09-11T19:37:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:37:01","slug":"polymarket-investigations-iran-biden-google-foia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=6903","title":{"rendered":"The US Government Launched 3 Previously Unreported Investigations of Polymarket Trades"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The US government<\/span> launched at least three previously unreported investigations into trading on the prediction market Polymarket<\/a>, according to documents obtained by WIRED through a Freedom of Information Act request.<\/p>\n

Voting records from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that regulates prediction markets<\/a>, shed new light on how the government approaches these investigations. In early May, CFTC chairman Michael Selig approved an order allowing the agency\u2019s enforcement division to launch a private investigation into potential insider trading on Polymarket event contracts related to pardons issued by former president Joseph Biden. The order granted permission to take testimony, obtain subpoenas, administer oaths, and require the production of documents in the course of the investigation.<\/p>\n

The documents obtained by WIRED did not specify which trades were under suspicion, but the order came several weeks after an NPR report<\/a> on a suspicious Polymarket trader who netted over $300,000 on pardon-related markets in the final days of the Biden Administration. The trader correctly wagered that the former president would issue pre-emptive pardons to a number of prominent MAGA critics, including former representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and senator Adam Schiff.<\/p>\n

At the end of May, Selig approved another investigation order. This time, the topic was \u201cIran event contracts\u201d on Polymarket. As with the Biden pardon documents, the investigation order did not provide details, but it came two weeks after 60 Minutes aired a report<\/a> on a network of suspicious Polymarket accounts that made $2.4 million on Iran-related trades, with a 98 percent win rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf these investigations are being prompted solely by press reports of potential violations of the Commodities Exchange Act, that\u2019s a significant sign of weakness in this regulatory scheme,\u201d says Joseph Konizeski, a former chief trial attorney in the CFTC\u2019s division of enforcement. The agency has come under fire<\/a> in the second Trump era for its perceived friendliness to the prediction market industry.<\/p>\n

In July, Selig greenlit a third investigation, this time focused on suspected insider trading on Google-themed Polymarket event contracts. In an email exchange included in the documents obtained by WIRED, Paul Hayeck, the acting director of the CFTC\u2019s department of enforcement, noted that the investigation would focus on \u201cadditional individuals who may have engaged in insider trading related to Google\u2019s 2025 Year in Search Ranking.\u201d Hayeck wrote that the Southern District of New York is conducting a \u201cparallel investigation.\u201d He specified that the CFTC’s investigation would be separate from the ongoing case against Michele Spagnuolo<\/a>, a Google engineer accused of insider trading.<\/p>\n

SDNY did not respond to requests for comment. Google declined to comment. It pointed WIRED to a statement it released in June noting that Spagnuolo was no longer with the company. The CFTC did not respond to requests for comment and questions about the status of the investigations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we do not comment on specific investigations, we regularly refer matters to law enforcement and support ongoing investigations as part of our commitment to protecting the integrity of our markets,\u201d Olivia Chalos, deputy chief legal officer at Polymarket, told WIRED in an email.<\/p>\n

The CFTC is also reportedly investigating<\/a> Polymarket itself. The company, which had its flagship platform banned from the United States in 2022, was permitted to launch a US-regulated version with a narrower set of markets in late 2025. It recently underwent a fundraising round<\/a> led by Donald Trump Jr.\u2019s venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, which valued the company at $21 billion.<\/p>\n

The CFTC has also launched investigations into potential insider trading on Kalshi, Polymarket\u2019s archrival, in the past. According to The New York Times, Kalshi has referred<\/a> at least 32 cases to the agency. The CFTC fined<\/a> former US representative George Santos $35,000 for his behavior related to a Kalshi contract about whether he would attend Trump\u2019s 2026 State of the Union address.<\/p>\n

Kalshi issued its first-ever lifetime ban<\/a> to Santos for violating its rules on market manipulation for the same behavior, and also fined him just over $71,000. Santos was not criminally charged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US government launched at least three previously unreported investigations into trading on the prediction market Polymarket, according to documents obtained by WIRED through a Freedom of Information Act request. Voting records from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that regulates prediction markets, shed new light on how the government approaches these investigations. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1092,32,656,414,415,179,1353],"class_list":["post-6903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-freedom-of-information-act","tag-google","tag-kalshi","tag-polymarket","tag-prediction-markets","tag-regulation","tag-us-government"],"yoast_head":"\nThe US Government Launched 3 Previously Unreported Investigations of Polymarket Trades - Silvybrand Lifestyle Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The agency that oversees prediction markets has investigated Polymarket trades on Biden pardons and the Iran war\u2014and even more potential insider trading at Google, documents obtained by WIRED show.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=6903\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The US Government Launched 3 Previously Unreported Investigations of Polymarket Trades - 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