JUST IN: FBI Raids Polymarket CEO’s Home After Betting Site Predicts Trump’s Victory

FBI agents raided the Manhattan apartment belonging to Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan early Wednesday morning, according to a report from the New York Post. The raid comes just over a week after the popular betting site accurately predicted President-elect Donald Trump’s historic comeback victory.

Coplan, 26, was abruptly woken up by armed federal agents as they swarmed his New York City apartment around 6 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday. Agents demanded that Coplan turn over his cellphone and other electronic devices, a source close to the matter told the New York Post.

The source described the raid as “grand political theater at its worst” in a statement to the outlet. “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.”

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Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan appears on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’

Coplan was not provided with a reason for the raid, though sources told The Post that it was “political retribution” due to the site’s accurate prediction of Trump’s victory. Trump entered Election Day with a 63 percent chance to win the presidency after several weeks of climbing in the odds, outpacing rival betting sites like Kalshi. Trump’s lead expanded to 75 percent by 9 p.m. Eastern Time, when it became apparent he would carry the key battlegrounds of Georgia and North Carolina, before climbing to over 90 percent when early returns favored the Republican nominee in the “blue wall” states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

The source further speculated that the Biden Department of Justice is using left-wing media reports accusing Polymarket of market manipulation by rigging its polls to favor Trump as justification for the raid. “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 is not currently facing any criminal charges, a Polymarket spokesperson told the New York Post. “Polymarket is a fully transparent prediction market that helps everyday people better understand the events that matter most to them, including elections,” the spokesperson 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 has yet to issue a public comment on the raid, though Coplan appeared to acknowledge it in an X post on Wednesday. “New phone, who dis?” the 26-year-old wrote.

Polymarket does not allow betting action in the U.S., though users are able to bypass the ban by using a VPN. The FBI’s raid comes just a week after Coplan announced that the company plans to return to the United States.

In 2022, the online gambling platform was forced to pause its trading in the country and was forced to pay a $1.4 million fine to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission after it failed to register with the agency. Since then, the platform has only been available for bettors outside the United States.

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