Indictment in Israel: Betting on Polymarket with insider info from the military
On Polymarket, you can bet on all sorts of things, and insider info could be gold. Israel is said to have attempted this using information from the military.
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Two people have been indicted in Israel who are said to have placed bets on the occurrence of certain events on the internet platform Polymarket using insider knowledge from the military. This was announced by the country's Ministry of Defense together with the Shin Bet intelligence service and explained that they are a civilian and a reservist. Due to the nature of the allegations, the responsible court has imposed a publication ban, which is why no details are known. According to the statement, the defendants are accused of “serious security violations, bribery, and obstruction of justice.”
Possibly not an isolated case
Polymarket is an internet platform where users can bet on the occurrence of the most diverse events. Although the service was founded in the USA in 2020, it was not available there for years due to conditions imposed by a financial authority. Currently, the service cannot be used in 33 states, including Germany. The service gained a lot of attention, especially during the US presidential election campaign, because enormous sums were bet on the expected outcome. At the beginning of the year, an account earned 400,000 US dollars on the platform because it had correctly bet that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would not remain in office for much longer.
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It is precisely because of such bets that the platform has been under scrutiny for some time, as they indicate that insider knowledge is being used to make money here. In Israel, law enforcement agencies have now apparently found indications that exactly this is happening. According to the statement, the defendants are said to have placed bets on military operations based on secret information to which they had access due to their position. This is said to be a real security risk. However, investigations have found no evidence that the bets affected the operations, the Financial Times quotes. The incident also recalls the publication of secret documents in a gaming forum, although that did not involve money.
(mho)
