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A Politico investigation found Polymarket chief marketing officer Matthew Modabber sent more than $2.5 million to over 800 recipients through a personal PayPal account between January 2025 and February 2026, with at least $350,000 flowing to content creators promoting the platform.
Twenty influencers posted about Polymarket more than 490 times on X without clear sponsorship disclosures, according to the report. Polymarket said influencer partnerships are standard business practice, but declined to address questions on disclosure policies, the use of a personal account, or tax reporting.
Why it matters
The disclosure gap is the live regulatory question. US FTC endorsement guides require material connections between advertisers and endorsers to be disclosed clearly — and the commission has been actively pursuing undisclosed paid promotion cases in the creator economy. Routing payments through a personal PayPal rather than a corporate account also raises tax-reporting and corporate-governance questions that compound the disclosure exposure.
Market impact
For Polymarket, the immediate risk is reputational rather than balance-sheet: prediction-market platforms are already under heightened scrutiny from the CFTC and state regulators over event-contract classification. A high-profile compliance question inside the marketing function is the kind of story that invites letters from both.
Frequently asked questions
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What did the Politico investigation find about Polymarket's CMO?
Polymarket CMO Matthew Modabber sent more than $2.5 million to over 800 recipients through a personal PayPal account between January 2025 and February 2026, with at least $350,000 going to content creators.
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Why is the disclosure gap the regulatory concern?
US FTC endorsement guides require material connections between advertisers and endorsers to be disclosed clearly. Twenty influencers posted about Polymarket more than 490 times on X without clear sponsorship disclosures, per Politico.
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Why does using a personal PayPal account matter?
Routing marketing payments through a personal account rather than a corporate one raises tax-reporting and corporate-governance questions that compound the disclosure exposure for the company.
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What is Polymarket's regulatory backdrop right now?
Prediction-market platforms are under heightened scrutiny from the CFTC and state regulators over how event contracts are classified, making any high-profile compliance question inside a major platform sensitive.
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How did Polymarket respond to the report?
Polymarket said influencer partnerships are standard business practice, but did not address questions on its disclosure policies, the use of a personal PayPal account, or tax reporting.
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