U.S. Begins Investigating Polymarket, a Test of a Key Regulator

A federal financial agency has begun investigating Polymarket, reigniting longstanding questions about whether a leading prediction market company tied to Donald Trump Jr.is operating within the law.The inquiry is a test of whether the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a little-known but powerful regulator, will hold to account a company with connections to President Trump.

A year ago, over the strong objections of its enforcement attorneys and under a different agency head, the C.F.T.C.killed a separate investigation into whether Polymarket was illegally serving U.S.

customers.Two people familiar with the new investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential matter, said it began earlier this year and was extensive in scope.Few other details have been made public.A Polymarket spokeswoman declined to comment on the inquiry, but said that the company was “committed to maintaining accurate, fair and transparent markets.”The disclosure of the investigation comes as Michael S.

Selig, who was sworn in as the C.F.T.C.’s chairman last December, is under growing pressure to show that the agency can police the exploding prediction market business.Republican and Democratic lawmakers have grilled Mr.

Selig about whether the prediction markets are magnets for insider trading and a way of seeking ill-gotten gains.Mr.Selig has vowed that the C.F.T.C.

will chase down abuses on the platforms, which now rake in billions of dollars in trades a month.So far, though, only individual traders have been charged with wrongdoing.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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