Polymarket removes contract letting users bet on fate of Cornell students accused of rape

Polymarket has removed a contract from its prediction market platform that allowed users to wager on whether any of the seven men accused of raping a Cornell student in 2024 will be charged with a felony sex crime.

The market was made available on Sept. 30 and was slated to close Jan. 31. It had more than $450,000 in volume before it was taken off Polymarket's international platform. The company's U.S. exchange is regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which bans trading related to “activity that is unlawful under Federal or State law.”

“Our primary goal at Polymarket is to bring objective, data-driven insight to the most important questions of our time,” a Polymarket spokesperson said Tuesday. “This market addressed whether the government would take action — a process that deserves scrutiny, particularly in a case of such serious concern. That said, we believe in the wisdom of crowds, have heard them loud and clear, and removed the market.”

Front Office Sports was the first to report on the contract.

Some outcry over the Polymarket contract has been aimed at its celebrity promoters. Philadelphia 76ers star LeBron James has an endorsement deal with Polymarket, and he recently appeared…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health