White House warns staff against insider trading on prediction markets after suspicious Iran war bets
The White House warned staffers not to use insider information to place bets on prediction markets as critics grow suspicious of lucrative trading activity around the Iran war.A White House official confirmed to The Post that the warning was sent to all staffers in an email from the White House Management Office on March 24.A day earlier, anonymous accounts made a blitz of trades just 15 minutes before President Trump announced a pause on strikes on Iran for five days, according to the Wall Street Journal.In less than two minutes, more than $760 million worth of oil futures contracts had changed hands, Dow Jones Market Data showed.Then, three accounts on Polymarket raked in more than $600,000 this week by correctly betting on the timing of the ceasefire.
The identity of the traders remains unknown.Polymarket did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.Prediction markets like it and Kalshi allow traders to wage bets on everything from politics, sports and pop culture to the likelihood of the president saying “Sleepy Joe” or “Trump Derangement Syndrome” on a certain day.Critics have been quick to blast the perfectly-timed wartime trades as instances of insider trading, and members of Congress have recently introduced several bills seeking to restrict public officials’ use of futures markets.Ethics rules already ban government workers from using insider scoops for personal gain and from gambling while on federal property, but critics have argued that’s not enough.“President Trump has been crystal clear: while he seeks a strong and profitable stock market for everyone, members of Congress and other government officials should be prohibited from using nonpublic information for financial benefit,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told The Post.“The only special interest that will ever guide President Trump is the best interest of the American people,” Ingle said.He added that any implication that Trump administration officials hav...