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.
\n\nVoting records from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal agency that regulates prediction markets, shed new light on how the government approaches these investigations. In early May, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig approved an order allowing the agency’s enforcement division to launch a private investigation into potential insider trading on Polymarket events contacts 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.
\n\nThe documents obtained by WIRED did not specify which trades were under suspicion, but the order came several weeks after an NPR report 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.
\n\nAt the end of May, Selig approved another investigation order. This…
Original source: https://www.wired.com/