corruption

Prakash denies betting on races covered by his fake Median Strategies polls

• Rahil Prakash, identified by The Guardian as the operator of the fake Median Strategies election-polling outfit, told NPR he placed no bets on prediction markets tied to the races covered by his fabricated polls; two people familiar with his Kalshi activity said a company review found no related wagers, and a Polymarket employee said Prakash does not appear to have an account on the platform.
• Prakash, 21, described the stunt as "a short-term social experiment" to see how fast fabricated figures would circulate, and said he was not trying to profit from the attention the polls attracted.
• Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass promoted the fabricated poll across social media; after it was revealed as a sham, her campaign called for criminal prosecution of "bad faith attempts to influence elections."
• Kalshi spokesman Jack Such said the episode showed that while news outlets and campaigns touted the poll as real, prediction markets barely reacted to the fabricated figures.
• Better Markets' Amanda Fischer said election-related prediction markets are "very easily manipulated" and called for all such markets to be banned as contrary to the public interest.