Dawn search for Shayne Coplan: electronic devices seized at his New York residence.
In an operation conducted at dawn on November 13, FBI agents raided the New York home of Shayne Coplan, CEO of the decentralized betting platform Polymarket, seizing his cell phone and other electronic devices.
According to the New York Post, federal agents woke Coplan at 6:00 a.m., demanding the immediate surrender of his electronic devices. A Polymarket spokesperson, confirming the event, described the raid as “an obvious political retaliation” by the outgoing Biden administration, motivated by the fact that the platform “had accurately predicted the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.”
The spokesperson added:
“Our platform charges no fees, takes no trading positions, and makes all market data publicly available as a public good. We are prepared to defend ourselves and our community while continuing to help people understand significant global events.”
An anonymous source described the operation as “political theater,” claiming that “the authorities could have requested any information through legal channels. Instead, they staged a supposed raid to then leak it to the media for obvious political purposes.” The same source suggested that “the government is likely attempting to build a case accusing Polymarket of market manipulation and skewing polls in Trump’s favor.” Following the operation, Coplan was not arrested.
A few hours later, Bloomberg reported that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Polymarket for allegedly allowing U.S. users to access the site.
The incident comes one week after Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election. Polymarket saw $3.7 billion in bets on the “2024 Presidential Election Winner” market, sparking criticism over its influence on the electoral process.
Although U.S. residents are prohibited from placing bets on the platform, this restriction can be bypassed using a VPN. Polymarket reportedly conducted checks to verify that major bettors in the pre-election period were indeed based overseas.
The platform is not new to disputes with U.S. authorities: in January 2022, it reached a $1.4 million settlement with the CFTC for offering over 900 event-based binary options markets without the necessary registration.
