The Whit House has sent an internal email to its staff, warning them against improperly using their positions to place bets in the futures market, Reuters and Bloomberg reported on Thursday. The email issued on 24 March came a day after US President Donald Trump issued a brief pause on some Iran strikes. It advised employees against placing trades on financial markets and fast-growing event betting platforms. The warning comes at a time when a series of well-timed and profitable bets preceded major decisions taken by Trump especially on Iran and Venezuela, raising questions on the scope of insider trading linked to 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 nonpublic information for financial benefit,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle was quoted as saying by Reuters in a statement. “The only special interest that will ever guide President Trump is the best interest of the American people.” The Journal, which previously reported the news, said the announcement was made in a staff-wide email from the White House management office. A day before the email was sent to White House staffers, US President Donald Trump on March 23 in a social media post had cited “productive conversations” with Iran, and announced a five-day break on his threat to destroy Iranian power plants. However, just 15 minutes before Trump's Truth Social announcement, futures for oil and stocks worth billion changed hands within a span of just two minutes. The social media post sent crude prices tumbling 15% and equities soaring. Around 6,200 Brent and West Texas Intermediate futures contracts changed hands 15 minutes before Trump's post, which sent crude oil prices below $100 and made other assets volatile. The trading took place between 6:49 am and 6:50 am New York time on 23 March, a quarter hour after the post said there had been “productive conversations” in recent days with Tehran to end the war in Iran. The average for the same time period over the previous five trading days was about 700 lots — or 700,000 barrels. Trump’s Truth Social post was published at around 7:05 am that day. According to a report by Bloomberg, the notional value of the trade was $580 million. This pattern of uncanny foresight was noticed before the US-Iran war as well. In January, an anonymous Polymarket user made profits of $400,000 by betting on the removal of former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro from his office, hours before the US army 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 28 February. “All federal employees are subject to government ethics guidelines that prohibit the use of nonpublic information for financial benefit. However, any implication that Administration officials are engaged in such activity without evidence is baseless and irresponsible reporting,” Ingle said, as per a report by Bloomberg. Federal employees are banned from gambling while on government property, and ethics rules prohibit use of non-public government information for personal gain. However, there has been no evidence that White House officials were involved in such trading. Swastika is a Digital Content Producer at LiveMint, covering business news and business trends. She has always been intrigued by the numbers that drive news, which has led to a passion for covering finances as a beat - be it personal finance or corporate. Originally from Kolkata, Swastika’s love for news started at home where her family made sure she read newspapers since she was a kid.
With over five years of experience in digital news, and one year at LiveMint, her focus includes writing on the business and personal finance beats. Swastika is a 2020 graduate from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, with a specialisation in New Media. Before her current role at LiveMint, she worked at major publications like The Telegraph Online, News18.com and The Economic Times. As a Digital Content Producer at LiveMint, she has extensively covered topics like income tax, Union Budget, economy, personal finance tools and cryptocurrency.
Swastika’s specialisations include:
Corporate news: Writing and breaking stories from corporates and companies
Business trends: Finding what's trending in business and churning original stories
Personal finance explainers: Writing explainers on income tax, provident fund, etc.
Swastika can be followed on her LinkedIn profile as well as on X at @swastika1005. She can be reached by email via swastika.sharma@htdigital.in. Stay updated with the latest Trending, India , World and US news.

Insider trading over US-Iran war? White House sends warning to staff, asks officials not to bet on prediction markets

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