Polymarket fires CMO Matthew Modabber after an internal probe, reports say
Polymarket has fired its chief marketing officer, Matthew Modabber, a longtime friend of CEO Shayne Coplan, the New York Post reported on 22 October. The probe followed June reports of promotional videos built on fake bets, which the CFTC is said to be investigating. What happened, the scandal behind it and what it means for users.
In this article
Polymarket has fired its chief marketing officer, Matthew Modabber, the New York Post reported on 22 October 2026, citing people familiar with the matter. Modabber is a longtime friend of chief executive Shayne Coplan, and the decision reportedly followed an internal investigation. A separation agreement is being finalised, according to the reports. Polymarket declined to comment, and Modabber did not respond to requests for comment.
The reporting relies on unnamed sources. The company has not confirmed the firing or its reasons.
What was reported
- The board backed it. According to the reports, the board concluded that Modabber was standing in the way of Polymarket's effort to shed its scrappy start-up image as it prepares for a possible stock market listing.
- Coplan pushed back at first. He reportedly resisted the dismissal of his friend before accepting the board's decision.
- The grounds are not public. Coverage links the probe to the company's promotional practices, but the precise reasons for the termination have not been set out.
The scandal behind it
The trouble goes back to June 2026, when the Wall Street Journal reported that a large share of Polymarket's influencer videos showed bets that had not really been placed. The Journal reviewed more than 1,100 videos and found that about 70% featured fake bets, adding up to nearly $2 million. Modabber's team was also reported to have built a promotional page around videos of users "winning" on trades that were not real.
Two senators, John Curtis, a Utah Republican, and Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, then wrote to CFTC chairman Michael Selig asking whether the agency was looking into it. CNBC later reported, citing a person familiar with the matter, that the CFTC has an extensive investigation into Polymarket under way. The agency has not confirmed it publicly, and no wrongdoing has been proven. At the time, Polymarket said it was auditing its promotional content.
Why it matters now
The firing comes in a week of governance stories. On 20 October Bloomberg reported that investors had pressed Coplan on spending controls and on hiring a chief operating officer, as the company raises money at a reported $21 billion valuation (investors press Coplan). A possible listing raises the bar: an exchange preparing to go public, and running a CFTC-regulated US business, is expected to market itself like a financial firm (Polymarket valuation and IPO talk).
What it means for Polymarket users
Nothing changes in how the platform works: markets, prices and payouts are unaffected. The lesson from the scandal is about marketing, not trading:
- Treat "I just won" videos with suspicion. A screenshot or a clip proves nothing.
- Check the wallet. Polymarket trades settle on a public blockchain, so a real position can be looked up by its wallet address (Polymarket whale tracker).
- Read the rules, not the hype. How a market resolves matters more than who is promoting it (how markets resolve).
