Polymarket’s marketing chief was reportedly fired amid scrutiny of company practices

Polymarket’s chief marketing officer, Matthew Moddaber, was reportedly fired on Oct. 23, leaving the prediction-market company without a confirmed explanation for the departure as it faces scrutiny over its promotional tactics and regulatory challenges.

ADWEEK, citing the New York Post, reported that Moddaber was dismissed after a series of incidents tied to the platform. Polymarket did not respond to ADWEEK’s request for confirmation or comment, and it remains unclear whether the negative publicity played any role in the reported decision.

Moddaber had been Polymarket’s marketing chief since 2024 and was its 11th employee, according to his LinkedIn profile. A separate report said his removal followed an internal investigation begun this year, and that the board viewed him as an obstacle to efforts to move beyond the company’s startup image while it considered a possible initial public offering. That account said Polymarket and Moddaber were working on a separation agreement.

The reported departure follows allegations about a campaign that paid online creators to depict winning Polymarket trades. The Wall Street Journal’s analysis of more than 1,100 TikTok videos found that most showed fictitious trades placed on dummy websites resembling Polymarket, according to CBS News. The videos presented purported customer winnings totalling $1.9 million.

Polymarket said in June that it was auditing promotional material following the Journal’s reporting. On June 26, Vaca Daffan Law sued Blockratize, Polymarket chief executive Shayne Coplan and Moddaber over the alleged campaign. Another report said a CFTC investigation into the promotional-video allegations remained ongoing, with no wrongdoing established.

As we covered in August, Polymarket had already reshaped its marketing leadership by hiring Travis VanderZanden as chief growth officer with oversight of marketing.

The company also faces a lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sept. 24. The state alleges that QCX LLC, doing business as Polymarket, ran an illegal and unlicensed gambling operation in New York, including by allowing users aged 18 to 20 to participate. The lawsuit seeks to stop the operation in the state, recover alleged illegal gains, obtain consumer restitution and impose fines.

Polymarket has faced federal action before. The CFTC settled charges against Blockratize, doing business as Polymarket, in January 2022 for offering off-exchange event-based binary options without the required registration. The agency ordered a $1.4 million civil penalty and required the company to wind down noncompliant markets and cease violating federal commodities law.