Mere hours before Donald Trump met with Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday, Biden’s own FBI was busy raiding the New York City home of Shayne Coplan, CEO of Polymarket, a prediction market that was extremely accurate in picking Trump to win last week.
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Coplan, who was not given a reason for the raid, did not get arrested, although the FBI did seize his phone and other electronic devices. The situation sounds eerily similar to other politically-motivated, early morning raids against people deemed as being too close to or aligned with President Trump:
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.”
This source also speculated that Polymarket is in the FBI’s sights because some in corporate media believe the site rigged its polls in favor of Trump, which they presumably think somehow encouraged the American electorate to vote for the former president. Reality check time: Most voters have never even heard of Polymarket.
Polymarket describes itself as “the world’s largest prediction market, allowing you to say informed and profit from your knowledge by betting on future events across various topics.” Interestingly, Polymarket is currently only available to users outside of the United States, and one such customer, an anonymous French “whale,” bet on Donald Trump to win, and reportedly raked in $48 million.
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Coplan told CNBC last week that, following their success in predicting the 2024 presidential race, Polymarket was looking to return to the U.S.: “I want to give a lot of credit to the people who fought the battle to go and legalize political prediction markets in America. Now we are in the position to be aggressive around expansion.”
Coplan took to X/Twitter on Wednesday afternoon to lament the “discouraging” situation he found himself in, but reiterated he was “proud” that Polymarket was able to provide “value to 10’s of millions of people this election cycle.”
It’s discouraging that the current administration would seek a last-ditch effort to go after companies they deem to be associated with political opponents. We are deeply committed to being non-partisan, and today is no different, but the incumbents should do some self-reflecting…
— Shayne Coplan 🦅 (@shayne_coplan) November 13, 2024
Here’s the entire transcript of his remarks:
It’s discouraging that the current administration would seek a last-ditch effort to go after companies they deem to be associated with political opponents. We are deeply committed to being non-partisan, and today is no different, but the incumbents should do some self-reflecting and recognize that taking a more pro-business, pro-startup approach may be what would have changed their fate this election.
Polymarket has provided value to 10’s of millions of people this election cycle, while causing harm to nobody. We’re deeply proud of that.
I’m also proud to say that the future of America, and in particular American entrepreneurship, has never been brighter.
In the face of adversity, we build 🦅
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Coplan also saw the humorous side to his predicament:
new phone, who dis?
— Shayne Coplan 🦅 (@shayne_coplan) November 13, 2024
Again, it’s very suspicious that this FBI raid took place on the same day that the outgoing president met with the incoming one. It’s almost as if the FBI is feeling a tad vengeful as the clock ticks down on their time as one of the left’s favorite tools to wield against their political opponents.
From the sound of things, Polymarket isn’t going anywhere, with a rep for the company telling the NY Post, “Polymarket is a fully transparent prediction market that helps everyday people better understand the events that matter most to them, including elections.”
