A series of unusually timed prediction market bets placed just hours before U.S. strikes on Iran has triggered fresh accusations of insider profiteering, with Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) warning that individuals with advance knowledge of military decisions may have made money wagering on war.
“It looks like those six big accounts that were set up on Friday made a profit of a million dollars off of us going to war on Saturday,” he added.
Most of the wallets were funded within 24 hours of the attack and bought “Yes” shares just hours before explosions in Tehran, with one account purchasing over 560,000 shares at about 10.8 cents—later paying out nearly $560,000 when the market settled at $1.
The White House and Polymarket did not immediately respond to Decrypt's requests for comment.
At least 16 of those accounts each ultimately profited by over $100,000, according to the report.
"If we continue to allow people to bet on war, on military strikes, then you're going to have people inside the Situation Room who are making decisions not based on what's good for national security, but based upon whether they'll make money off of war," Murphy said on Wednesday. "There's going to be somebody in that room who's going to be pushing us into war because they can cash in."
Murphy also pointed to rising costs facing Americans, saying that at a time when people are struggling to afford groceries and gas, and prices are climbing because of the war, it is “even more outrageous that there are people inside the White House who are making tons of money.”
