Polymarket removes Cornell sex-crime contract after backlash

Polymarket has removed a contract that allowed users to wager on whether any of seven men accused of raping a Cornell student would face a felony sex charge. The market, offered on the company’s international platform from Sept. 30, generated more than $450,000 in trading volume before it was taken down after public criticism.

As reported on Sept. 30, the listing had already drawn backlash for turning allegations of sexual violence into a tradable event. The contract had been scheduled to close Jan. 31.

Polymarket initially defended the market as a question of whether the government would act, saying such a process warranted scrutiny in a case of serious concern. It later said it had heard the public response and removed the contract.

An Ultra Violet petition described betting on legal cases involving sexual violence as a gross practice and urged Polymarket’s celebrity ambassadors to cut ties with the company. The petition singled out LeBron James, Eli Manning, Alexandra Daddario and Emily Ratajkowski; critics online also questioned why public figures would associate with the platform.

The underlying civil lawsuit was filed by a woman identified in court documents as Jane Doe. She alleged that seven fraternity members sexually assaulted or exploited her in October 2024, and that Cornell mishandled her complaints. The men denied the allegations, maintaining that their interactions were consensual or that they had not been involved.

Gaming America reported that the Tompkins County district attorney brought no criminal charges in 2024 before later reopening the investigation. It also reported that Cornell and the Chi Phi fraternity were defendants in Jane Doe’s lawsuit.

The market was offered outside Polymarket’s U.S. exchange. That exchange is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which bars trading related to conduct unlawful under federal or state law. Prediction-market prices reflect financially weighted beliefs rather than a representative public poll, according to Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics; larger wagers exert more influence on a contract’s price than smaller ones.

Polymarket still had a separate international market on whether Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff would leave his post by Oct. 31, with more than $10,700 in volume.