Internal investigation finds that ONE investor has been artifically boosting McCain on Intrade

Trader Drove Up Price of McCain ‘Stock’ in Online Market
By Josh Rogin, CQ Staff

An internal investigation by the popular online market Intrade has revealed that an investor has been attempting to artificially boost the prediction that Sen. John McCain will become president.

Over the past several weeks, the investor has pushed hundreds of thousands of dollars into one of Intrade’s predictive markets for the presidential election, the company said, resulting in great financial losses through a strategy that belies any financial motive.

“The trading that caused the unusual price movements and discrepancies was principally due to a single ‘institutional’ member on Intrade,” said the company’s chief executive, John Delaney, in a statement released Thursday. “We have been in contact with the firm on a number of occasions. I have spoken to those involved personally.”

After an extensive investigation into the suspicious trading patterns, Intrade found no wrongdoing of violation of its exchange rules, the company said.

Citing privacy policies, Delaney would not elaborate on who the investor was or whether or not that investor was affiliated in any way with the McCain campaign.

According to Delaney, this investor, who boosted the McCain prediction significantly over the market value and above the levels of competing predictive-market Web sites, was using the Intrade market to protect other positions and hedge other investments.

Pundits and politicians have used Intrade to track the fortunes of the two presidential candidates. Through the site, begun in 1999 and incorporated in Ireland, traders buy and sell “contracts” that function as stocks, allowing investors to gamble on the outcomes of political, cultural, or even geological events such as the weather.

The company claims and experts confirm that the Intrade market is generally more accurate in predicting outcomes of major events than other leading indicators, such as polls.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000002976265

But feel free to waste your money, "pugs"

The guy can bet as he likes.

I love these kinds of folks at the track.

Send him an invite to the Breeder's Cup. Thanks.

:evilgrin:

Stupid backwards US gambling policy - how does one fund an Intrade account from the US these days anyhow?

I don't see anything wrong with that. It is as it should be.

Did this moran actually think that throwing more money down on what is essetially a gamble mean that he'll change the odds?

What a jeenius.

I'd like to show him a prospectus for a can't miss money-making opportunity for investment in Northern Ohio Penguin Farming.