A US soldier faces criminal charges for allegedly profiting from nonpublic military information on prediction markets.
A US soldier, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, faces charges for allegedly making $400,000 on Polymarket using nonpublic information tied to a military operation removing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The Justice Department claims he exploited insider knowledge to bet on Maduro’s removal in January, leading to criminal charges in April.
Van Dyke’s legal team filed a 51-page memo in the Southern District of New York, arguing the Commodity Exchange Act’s ambiguity in treating event contracts as swaps warrants dismissal of some charges. The CFTC asserts exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets, but Van Dyke’s lawyers contend the law lacks clarity.
The case highlights regulatory uncertainty in prediction markets, as courts and agencies debate whether event contracts fall under swap regulations. No immediate market reaction was reported.