Former DOGE Staffers Take Senior Roles at Prediction Market Firms Polymarket and Novig

Prediction markets are drawing talent from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), according to WIRED. Late last year, Polymarket—the prediction market giant fighting dozens of legal battles—quietly hired former DOGE affiliate Jonathan Mendelson as a senior strategic executive. Shortly after, Elie Mishory, another DOGE veteran, took a top regulatory role at the sports-focused prediction market Novig.

Jonathan Mendelson Joins Polymarket

Mendelson's background includes a stint as an investor at venture capital firm Accel in San Francisco, which invests in technology companies. At DOGE, he was technically employed by the General Services Administration but worked as an advisor to SEC chairman Paul Atkins. He spent less than a year at DOGE before moving to Polymarket, which currently faces an investigation from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Polymarket declined to comment on the hiring, according to WIRED. The SEC did not respond to requests for comment.

Elie Mishory Moves to Novig

Elie Mishory has a longer history in prediction markets regulation. He previously worked as a CFTC regulator and helped develop the agency's framework for prediction markets. In 2025, he served as Kalshi's general counsel and chief regulatory officer before stepping down to lead DOGE's efforts at the SEC, where he worked alongside Mendelson. This June, he joined Novig as chief regulatory and legal affairs officer. Jacob Fortinsky, Novig's cofounder and chief executive, said in a statement, "Elie has been at the center of the most consequential regulatory developments in prediction markets—he helped bring them from a fringe idea to the center of the national conversation."

Mishory told WIRED that joining a prediction market company was a "natural dovetail" from his mission at the SEC for DOGE. At DOGE, he prioritized talking to staffers about streamlining operations and implementing their suggestions for changing administrative processes or getting rid of redundant software. He noted that his DOGE experience was "atypical" because he didn't focus on cutting staff. (The SEC lost 18 percent of its staff in 2025, but unlike DOGE-ravaged agencies like USAID, most cuts were voluntary buyouts.)

Shared Philosophy and Regulatory Battles

Mishory sees parallels between DOGE and prediction markets. "My version of DOGE was to find the people who were the experts," he said. "The people who actually used the software, not just the people who would buy the software, to give them a voice." In his view, prediction markets "democratize" knowledge by rewarding users based on performance. He also sees overlap in the appetite for risk in both environments—DOGE brought on young, inexperienced engineers to remake the federal government, while big prediction market companies like Polymarket and Novig are steered by twentysomethings with thin resumes.

The hires come at a tumultuous time for the prediction market industry. As prediction markets have exploded in popularity, state regulators and federal lawmakers are calling for stricter guardrails, arguing that they facilitate corruption and violate state gambling laws. Many detractors say prediction markets are sports betting products in disguise, but leaders in the space aim to compete with the world's largest commodities and futures markets. They have found allies within the Trump Administration, especially as Donald Trump Jr. is an advisor to a prediction market company (the source cut off).

The moves underscore how prediction market firms are recruiting regulatory insiders to navigate an increasingly hostile legal environment, while also embracing a startup culture that values speed and risk-taking.

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