People vote on the first day of Virginia in-person early voting at Longbridge Park Aquatics and Fitness Center on September 20, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
A federal appeals court has fast-tracked a Commodity Futures Trading Commission case challenging event exchange Karsi’s right to offer U.S. political election contracts.
Expedited appeals are done as a separate platform from Kalshi. interactive brokeroffers a range of political contracts, including bets on the outcome of the US presidential election, US Senate election, and party control of each Congress.
Mr. Carsi promoted his presidential campaign deal on an electronic billboard in New York City’s Times Square over the weekend.
The appeal’s expedited timeline calls for the CFTC to file legal briefs by Wednesday and for Kalsi to respond with briefs by Nov. 15, 10 days after Election Day. The CFTC then has until Dec. 6 to submit a response to Kalsi’s brief.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit directed the clerk of the court to schedule oral argument on the “first appropriate date” after the answer is filed.
Arguments and oral arguments in federal appeals courts typically take several months.
The CFTC had requested oral argument on December 2nd.
A commission spokeswoman declined to comment on the schedule.
In an Oct. 2 court filing, the CFTC argued that expedited resolution of the appeal is in the public’s interest.
The CFTC told the appeals court that election contracts are “susceptible to market manipulation” and pose risks to election integrity and the public’s perception of election integrity.
Karshi CEO Tarek Mansour said in a statement that the company is “confident” that the law allows election contracts.
“I look forward to continuing to show how powerful these markets are in promoting election integrity and bringing more truth to the system!” Mansour said.
In September, the CFTC lost a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., that sought to block Mr. Carsi from proposing a deal that would give his party control of both chambers of Congress in November.
The commission immediately appealed the decision to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, which immediately issued an injunction temporarily barring Mr. Carsi from accepting a council management contract.
But the Court of Appeals on Oct. 2 ruled that the CFTC could not prove that the injunction would cause “irreparable harm” to the commission or the public if it did not remain in effect pending appeal. Unfrozen.
Carsi resumed offering Congressional contracts, and later, presidential election results between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as other race-related contracts.
As of Monday, Mr. Carsi had more than $7 million in contracts related to the presidential election results.
On October 3, Interactive Brokers began offering political contracts to its clients. The platform says more than 1 million such contracts have been traded.
“We have seen significant demand for election-specific contracts on our platform in a short period of time,” Interactive Brokers founder Thomas Peterffy said in a statement. “This interest confirms the growing importance of political prediction markets.”
