The Polymarket Raid
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FBI agents raided the Manhattan apartment of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan early Wednesday morning — just a week after the election-betting platform successfully predicted Donald Trump’s stunning victory, The Post has learned.
The 26-year-old entrepreneur was roused from bed in his Soho pad at 6 a.m. by US law enforcement who demanded he turn over his phone and other electronic devices, a source close to the matter told The Post.
It’s “grand political theater at its worst,” the source told The Post. “They could have asked his lawyer for any of these things. Instead, they staged a so-called raid so they can leak it to the media and use it for obvious political reasons.”
Coplan was not provided with a reason for the raid, but the source suspects it was political retribution since Polymarket accurately predicted an easy Trump triumph over Vice President Kamala Harris – as opposed to traditional polls.
The source also speculated that the government is likely piggybacking off liberal media reports that accuse Polymarket of market manipulation and rigging its polls in favor of Trump.
“This is obvious political retribution by the outgoing administration against Polymarket for providing a market that correctly called the 2024 presidential election,” the source said.
Coplan was not arrested and has not been charged, a Polymarket spokesperson told The Post on Wednesday evening.
“Polymarket is a fully transparent prediction market that helps everyday people better understand the events that matter most to them, including elections,” the rep said.
“We charge no fees, take no trading positions, and allow observers from around the world to analyze all market data as a public good.”
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Coplan posted on X after his run-in with the feds: “New phone, who dis?”
Polymarket does not allow trading in the US, though bettors can bypass the ban by accessing the site through VPN.
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Uhm, it’s a betting platform. It didn’t predict Jack shit. It configured odds to get as much money spread evenly on both sides. If too much money is being bet on DJT, then it configures the odds so bets on Trump pay less and to try to get people to bet the other way.
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“They could have asked his lawyer for any of these things. Instead, they staged a so-called raid so they can leak it to the media and use it for obvious political reasons.”
Two things wrong with that. Firstly, assuming he has committed crimes, how many people would just hand over a phone with incriminating evidence on it when given warning that the FBI wants it? I mean without cleaning it up first?
Secondly, they could leak whether they got info from a raid or from his attorney.
