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U.S. special forces soldier arrested over Polymarket bets on Maduro raid

U.S. special forces soldier arrested over Polymarket bets on Maduro raid

Summary

A U.S. special forces soldier was arrested for using secret information about a military raid to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in order to make money through online bets. The soldier made over $400,000 by trading on prediction markets based on this classified information.

Key Facts

  • Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a master sergeant at Fort Bragg, was charged with insider trading connected to a raid on Nicolás Maduro.
  • He used classified information from his military role to bet on Polymarket, an online prediction market platform.
  • Van Dyke created a Polymarket account in December and placed 13 bets with over $33,000, earning nearly $410,000.
  • He sent most of the money to a foreign cryptocurrency vault before moving it to a new online brokerage account.
  • Insider trading charges come under the "Eddie Murphy Rule," which prohibits trading using stolen government information.
  • Van Dyke faces charges including wire fraud and violations of the Commodity Exchange Act, with potential prison sentences up to 20 years.
  • Polymarket cooperated with the investigation and updated its rules to prevent insider trading.
  • This case is the first time the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has charged insider trading in event contract markets.
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