29 votes

The insider trading suspicions looming over Donald Trump's US presidency

9 comments

  1. [8]
    DynamoSunshirt
    Link
    I, for one, look forward to spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and tens of years of public servant time to prove that Donald Trump is a corrupt piece of garbage. I imagine it will...

    I, for one, look forward to spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars and tens of years of public servant time to prove that Donald Trump is a corrupt piece of garbage.

    I imagine it will produce results similar to previous prosecutions of Trump.

    (seriously though, how do we fix the system so these oligarchs -- and their posse -- actually suffer meaningful consequences for their corruption on a reasonable time scale?)

    28 votes
    1. [4]
      hobbes64
      Link Parent
      Note also that this is reporting by BBC. I haven’t seen stories about this on major American media which has mostly been captured by the billionaires who are on team Trump.

      Note also that this is reporting by BBC. I haven’t seen stories about this on major American media which has mostly been captured by the billionaires who are on team Trump.

      13 votes
      1. [3]
        R3qn65
        Link Parent
        For what it's worth, The Atlantic - "insider trading is going to get people killed" from March of this year or "America has never seen corruption like Trump's" from earlier. NY post - Americans...

        I haven’t seen stories about this on major American media which has mostly been captured by the billionaires who are on team Trump.

        For what it's worth,

        The Atlantic - "insider trading is going to get people killed" from March of this year or "America has never seen corruption like Trump's" from earlier.

        NY post - Americans deserve to know who's behind those suspiciously timed war related bets

        NY times - Trump's encouragement of stock trades draws scrutiny

        WSJ - the well-timed trades made moments before Trump's policy surprises

        Axios - mysterious trading patterns follow Trump into war

        Washpo - Washington steps up scrutiny of prediction markets

        Not all of these headlines are quite as pointed as the BBCs, but the substantive reporting is quite similar.

        I am not defending Trump! I'm not even contesting the statement that much American media is controlled by billionaires (though that's not a uniquely American affliction.) But every major American news outlet I checked has reported on the polymarket cloud of suspicion.

        18 votes
        1. [2]
          hobbes64
          Link Parent
          Yes I’ve seen that various orgs have noticed the trading but I don’t remember any that were directly implicating trump associates.

          Yes I’ve seen that various orgs have noticed the trading but I don’t remember any that were directly implicating trump associates.

          4 votes
          1. R3qn65
            (edited )
            Link Parent
            Got it. All of the articles I listed go at least as far as the BBC (to wit, "Some analysts say [the data] bears the hallmarks of illegal insider trading") and some go much farther - which is good,...

            Got it. All of the articles I listed go at least as far as the BBC (to wit, "Some analysts say [the data] bears the hallmarks of illegal insider trading") and some go much farther - which is good, right?

            7 votes
    2. chocobean
      Link Parent
      I can't speak for other members of the public, but I won't be convinced that there's adequate meaningful change in America until I see all of (1) election reform including ending gerrymandering...

      I can't speak for other members of the public, but I won't be convinced that there's adequate meaningful change in America until I see all of (1) election reform including ending gerrymandering and overturning Citizens United (2) life imprisonment for not just Trump but many in his admin, and (3) severe financial penalties and jail sentences for oligarchs that undermine democracy.

      10 votes
    3. Pavouk106
      Link Parent
      You can't fix it when they have half the population backing them up (in elections).

      You can't fix it when they have half the population backing them up (in elections).

      7 votes
    4. vord
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      I mean, TBH they've more or less neutered all checks and balances. At this point my money is on a civil war happening before accountability does. We're exiting our Weinmar Germany moment. I'm...

      how do we fix the system so these oligarchs -- and their posse -- actually suffer meaningful consequences for their corruption on a reasonable time scale?

      I mean, TBH they've more or less neutered all checks and balances. At this point my money is on a civil war happening before accountability does.

      We're exiting our Weinmar Germany moment. I'm 50/50 on whether elections happen at all, and from there only like 10% confident that anything substantial will come of them, because odds are there will be so much fraud.

      When the man who said you'll never have to vote again wants to station his thugs in polling stations, what do you expect to happen?

      7 votes
  2. hobbes64
    Link

    Throughout US President Donald Trump's second term in office, traders have been betting millions of dollars just before he makes major announcements.
    The BBC has examined trade volume data on several financial markets and matched them to some of the president's most significant market-moving statements.
    It found a consistent pattern of spikes just hours, or sometimes minutes, before a social media post or media interview was made public.
    Some analysts say it bears the hallmarks of illegal insider trading, whereby bets are made by people based on information that is not available to the general public.
    Others say the picture is more complicated and that some traders have become more adept at anticipating the president's interventions.

    7 votes