Has Time magazine's Person of the Year already been leaked? After a series of "suspicious betting activity" on Sportsbook.com, the online wager house shut down betting on who (or what) would be the issue's cover subject. Further investigation revealed bets placed through accounts tied to a PR firm (names, people, names!) that reps Time Warner, publisher, of course, of Time.

And just who were all those bets for? Mother Nature. (Sports Illustrated's Sportsperson of the Year was also correctly rumored to be Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, based on the suspicious betting.)

Sportsbook.com, the world's largest online sportsbook, has been forced to halt wagering on Time Magazine's Person of the Year and Sports Illustrated's Sportsperson of the Year due to suspicious betting activity. Upon further investigation by Sportsbook.com, the first and only sportsbook to offer odds on the annual designations, it appears employees of a public relations agency linked to Time Warner have used inside information to place the maximum allowable bet on this year's winners.

On the afternoon of Friday, December 2, a number of suspicious wagers, originating primarily from New York and New Jersey, were posted on Mother Nature to be named Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2005. These wagers have been traced back to e-mail addresses of a New York-based PR agency that lists Time Warner as one of its clients.

At least we can get a jump start on all those "Time 'Not Actually a Person of the Year" jokes in time for the Dec. 18 official reveal.

Sportsbook.com halts wagering on TIME Person of the Year [PR Newswire]
Did a PR Firm Leak Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" — and Worse? [Idea Grove]