Predictive betting market Polymarket and its founder and CEO Shane Coplan are at the center of a debate over political gambling after the FBI reportedly searched Coplan's home on Wednesday. I noticed that there was.
The FBI raided Koplan's New York City apartment early Wednesday morning and seized his cellphone and other electronic devices, according to multiple news outlets. reported, Citing anonymous sources. Coplan surrendered the device but was not arrested or charged, according to the report.
It is not clear at this time whether he or Polimarket will be subject to the investigation. The Justice Department declined to comment, and the FBI's national office and New York office said they could neither confirm nor deny the report.
new york times reported The raid was carried out by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, which investigated whether Polymarket was operating as an unlicensed commodity exchange that allowed U.S. users to bet illegally on its platform. It was part of an investigation by the SDNY.
Prosecutors at the SDNY Attorney's Office and Polymarket responded to requests for comment.
Polymarket, which Koplan founded in 2020, has faced intense scrutiny for its election betting market, which reportedly generated more than $3.6 billion in revenue from presidential election betting, according to one report. NBC News analysis.
The analysis states that this includes about $1.5 billion for President-elect Trump and about $1 billion for Vice President Harris, suggesting that odds and election betting markets may have influenced Trump's victory. There are concerns that there may be.
Polymarket is one of the most popular election betting markets, but gambling is prohibited in the United States for the following reasons: 2022 settlement Cooperation with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). As part of the deal, Polymarket was ordered to suspend trading and pay $1.4 million for failing to register with the agency.
The platform received large trades from French traders by November 5, prompting further criticism of the platform. reported by bloomberg With Trump's victory, users were expected to take home about $48 million.
Mr. Coplan has not spoken publicly about the incident, but Posted in X Later Wednesday, he asked, “Who used my new phone?” apparently referring to the seizure of cell phones.
In a subsequent post, Koplan criticized the Biden administration for what he believed was an effort to link his company to President-elect Trump's victory last week.
“It is disheartening that the current administration would seek, as a last resort, to go after companies it deems to have ties to political opponents,” he wrote. “We are deeply committed to being nonpartisan, and today is no different. But I think incumbents could do better in this election if they reflected a little and took a more pro-business, pro-startup approach. We must realize that our fate could have been different.”
The Biden administration has faced criticism over its approach to some tech companies, including antitrust laws and a crackdown on cryptocurrencies. The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Elon Musk, the tech billionaire and emerging ally of Mr. Trump, was among a wave of crypto advocates who rallied around Mr. Coplan in response to the report.
“Certainly,” Musk said in a response to Koplan, but Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong initially said the raid “backfired” and caused Polymarket to lose money. posted, “It will become even more powerful.”
He later deleted the post, but write instead“I deleted the previous tweet until all the facts are known, and it doesn't look good.”
Mr. Musk responded. “This seems like a mess,” Armstrong wrote in a since-deleted post.
Just last month, a federal appeals court ruling found that election gambling is officially legal in the U.S., siding with the CFTC, which asked the court to block prediction exchange platform Karsi from offering “congressionally controlled contracts.” .
Kalsi allowed users to bet on which political party would control the House and Senate after the election.
