The Whit House sent an internal email to staff warning them against misusing their positions to make bets on the futures market, Reuters and Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
The email, released on March 24, came a day after US President Donald Trump briefly paused some Iranian strikes. Staff advised against entering trades on financial markets and fast-growing event betting platforms.
The warning comes as a series of well-timed and profitable bets preceded Trump’s major decisions, notably on Iran and Venezuela, raising questions about the extent of insider trading involving sensitive information.
“While he (Donald Trump) seeks a strong and profitable stock market for everyone, members of Congress and other government officials should be prohibited from using non-public information for financial gain,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“The only special interest that will ever lead President Trump is the best interest of the American people.”
Read also | Who knew? $580 million in oil trades hit minutes before Donald Trump’s Iran post
The Journal, which previously reported the news, said the announcement was made in an email to staff from the White House leadership office.
Well-timed bets on Trump’s decision are raising eyebrows
A day before the email was sent to White House staff, US President Donald Trump cited “productive talks” with Iran in a social media post on March 23 and announced a five-day pause in his threat to destroy Iran’s power plants.
However, just 15 minutes before Trump’s Truth Social announcement, billions worth of oil futures and stocks changed hands in the space of just two minutes. The social media post sent oil prices tumbling 15% and stocks soared.
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About 6,200 Brent and West Texas Intermediate futures changed hands 15 minutes before Trump’s remarks, sending oil prices below $100 and sending other assets tumbling. The trading took place between 6:49 a.m. and 6:50 a.m. New York time on March 23, a quarter of an hour after the post said there had been “productive talks” with Tehran in recent days about ending the war in Iran.
The average for the same time period in the previous five trading days was about 700 lots – or 700,000 barrels. Trump’s Truth Social post was posted around 7:05 a.m. that day.
According to a Bloomberg report, the face value of the deal was $580 million.
A consistent pattern
This pattern of strange foresight was also noted before the US-Iran war. In January, an anonymous Polymarket user won $400,000 betting to remove former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from his office, hours before the US military captured him from his residence.
In a similar bet, another user made a $500,000 profit by predicting a US strike on Iran and the removal of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, just hours before the actual strikes began on February 28.
“All federal employees are subject to government ethics guidelines that prohibit the use of nonpublic information for financial gain. However, any suggestion that administration officials are engaged in such activity without evidence is baseless and irresponsible reporting,” Ingle said, according to a Bloomberg report.
Federal employees are prohibited from gambling on government property, and ethics rules prohibit the use of nonpublic government information for personal gain. However, there is no evidence that White House officials were involved in such trading.
Key things
- Suspicious trading patterns can raise ethical concerns about insider trading among government officials.
- The White House emphasizes the importance of ethics in financial transactions, especially in sensitive times.
- Government employees are expressly prohibited from using non-public information for personal financial gain.
