The White House has written to staff reminding them that insider trading is a federal offense after a flurry of online bets cashed in on Donald Trump’s foreign policy decisions.
The email came after a series of lucrative wagers were placed on Trump’s decisions, such as pausing strikes in Iran and toppling Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, with many of the bets landing in the hours before the president’s announcements, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“Recent press reports have raised concerns about government officials using nonpublic government information to place wagers on online prediction markets, such as Kalshi or Polymarket,” the email, which was sent on March 24 and was later obtained by CBS News, reads.
It goes on to say it is a “criminal offense for anyone to use nonpublic information to buy or sell these contracts,” adding that “government ethics regulations prohibit the use of nonpublic information for the private benefit of an employee or any other third party.”
“All White House employees are reminded that the misuse of nonpublic information by government employees for financial benefit is a very serious offense and will not be tolerated,” it concludes.
The day before the email was sent, Trump announced he was postponing strikes on Iranian power plants. Just before the post was sent, there was an uptick in oil futures trading.
The issue first reared its head in January after an anonymous user on Polymarket, a crypto-based gambling site, wagered $32,000 that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro would be toppled before the end of the month. Hours later, Trump ordered a lightning invasion that saw the tyrant captured.
The user, who created their account in late December and placed bets only on four events, all of them related to Venezuela, walked away with profits of more than $400,000.
Another anonymous trader, betting under the username “Magamyman,” made more than $553,000 placing Polymarket wagers about Iran and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei just before the U.S. and Israel launched a series of airstrikes against the Islamic regime on February 28 that killed the Supreme Leader.
Six other accounts, all newly created, made a combined profit of $1.2 million betting the Trump administration would carry out those attacks by that date.
At least 50 anonymous Polymarket betters also placed substantial “Yes” wagers on a U.S.-Iran ceasefire just hours before Trump announced it on April 7. Hours earlier, Trump had threatened to destroy the “whole civilization” of Iran.
Not all last-minute wagers on Trump’s foreign policy decisions have paid off. Eight new accounts on the platform, created around March 21, bet almost $70,000 on there being a ceasefire in the Iran conflict before March 31, standing to win nearly $820,000.
Users placed those bets around the time Trump posted on Truth Social that he was considering winding down strikes against Iran, which he did not do until earlier this week.
More than 55 Democratic lawmakers, including Senators Adam Schiff and Amy Klobuchar, have raised alarm over the past several weeks and introduced legislation to enhance regulatory oversight of the platforms involved.
Four elected Republican officials—Senators John Curtis and Todd Young, and Reps. Blake Moore and Adrian Smith—have joined in those efforts.
Donald Trump Jr. is an investor at Polymarket through his venture capital firm, 1789 Capital, and a paid strategic adviser for Kalshi.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.
