(April 10): The White House sent an internal staff-wide email that warned employees against using confidential information to place trades on financial markets and fast-growing event betting platforms.
The warning comes after a series of recent well-timed and profitable bets raised questions about potential insider trading around US President Donald Trump’s decision-making on military manoeuvres in Iran and Venezuela.
The email was sent from the White House Management Office on March 24, according to a White House official who asked not to be identified discussing a confidential matter.
President Donald Trump, the previous day, had cited “productive conversations” with Tehran and announced a five-day pause on his threat to attack Iranian power plants in a social media post. Futures for oil and stocks worth billions of dollars changed hands just 15 minutes before Trump’s post sent crude prices tumbling and equities soaring.
Contracts corresponding to at least six million barrels of Brent and West Texas Intermediate were sold in the two minutes from 6.49am in New York on March 23, according to exchange data compiled by Bloomberg. The average for the same time period over the previous five trading days was about 700 lots — or 700,000 barrels. Trump’s Truth Social post was published at around 7.05am that day.
The staff-wide email was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
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“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 said in a statement. “The only special interest that will ever guide President Trump is the best interest of the American people.”
While stocks and oil have shown volatility due to the US and Israeli war on Iran, the unusual pattern in futures trading after Trump’s announcement as well as the surge in bets placed in online prediction markets have drawn scrutiny amid questions about whether bettors are trading on inside information.
A series of well-timed Iran wagers placed on Polymarket by freshly created anonymous accounts have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits so far, prompting analysts to scour the trades for tell-tale signs of insider activity. Some payouts on Middle East-related bets are now frozen in a dispute, with traders unable to collect as users debate what constitutes a ceasefire.
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Profitable bets placed just before the US capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro earlier this year also sparked questions about the use of confidential information.
Federal employees are banned from gambling while on government property, and ethics rules prohibit use of non-public government information for personal gain. While there has been no evidence White House staff have profited off insider trading, the email to staff highlights the focus on prediction markets, a nascent industry that has exploded in interest and growing concerns that there are insufficient guardrails to prevent insider trading.
“All federal employees are subject to government ethics guidelines that prohibit the use of nonpublic information for financial benefit. However, any implication that Administration officials are engaged in such activity without evidence is baseless and irresponsible reporting,” Ingle said.
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