‘We’re deeply dedicated to being non-partisan, and at the moment is not any completely different,’ Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan mentioned.
Federal regulation enforcement brokers raided the downtown New York dwelling of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan on Nov. 13, seizing his telephone and electronics, the corporate mentioned.
The early-morning raid adopted final week’s presidential election, through which bettors on Polymarket, an offshore, crypto-fueled election playing web site, had for weeks put President-elect Donald Trump’s odds larger than these of Vice President Kamala Harris, in a divergence from some opinion polls.
Coplan, Polymarket’s 26-year-old founder, was roused from his mattress in New York Metropolis’s SoHo neighborhood at 6 a.m. by FBI brokers demanding he give them his digital gadgets, in keeping with the corporate.
Polymarket declined to touch upon experiences that federal prosecutors are investigating it for allegedly permitting U.S.-based customers to wager on the location. A spokesperson mentioned the FBI raid was “apparent political retribution by the outgoing administration towards Polymarket for offering a market that appropriately known as the 2024 presidential election.”
The corporate mentioned that Coplan had not been arrested or taken into custody.
The FBI declined to remark. The Division of Justice and the White Home didn’t reply to requests for touch upon the raid.
Coplan wrote on the social media platform X that he was utilizing a brand new telephone.
“Polymarket has offered worth to 10’s of tens of millions of individuals this election cycle, whereas inflicting hurt to no one. We’re deeply happy with that. I’m additionally proud to say that the way forward for America, and particularly American entrepreneurship, has by no means been brighter. Within the face of adversity, we construct.”
Within the run-up to the presidential election, Polymarket positioned Trump’s odds of successful excessive above these of Harris, when some opinion polls had proven the race in a lifeless warmth.
Trump ended up successful the election with 312 electoral votes to Harris’s 226, as he took all six battleground states—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—that President Joe Biden had gained in 2020.
The present well-liked vote whole additionally has Trump with 50.2 % of the vote, in comparison with 48.2 % for Harris. Some states are nonetheless counting ballots multiple week after the election.
Polymarket additionally gained scrutiny after a thriller French dealer, generally known as the Polymarket whale, made massive bets on Trump successful the election.
The dealer’s large wagers got here in tandem with a dramatic rise in Trump’s probabilities on the exchanges.
The dealer walked away with greater than $46 million in revenue.
France’s playing regulator, Autorite Nationale des Jeux, mentioned earlier in November it was investigating Polymarket.
“We’re conscious of this website and are at present inspecting its operation and compliance with French playing laws,” a spokesperson instructed information shops on the time.
Reuters contributed to this report.