The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) arrested Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a U.S. special forces soldier, on April 23, 2026, for using insider information to make bets on Maduro’s...
Nevada Senator urges CFTC to fight against insider trading
After the Maduro trade on Polymarket triggered an insider trading bill, Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto raised concerns with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and urged the regulator to establish protections against prediction market insider trading.
Cortez Masto wrote a four-page letter to the CFTC, highlighting that the timing of the trades raised suspicions. Over ten other Democratic senators joined as signatories. She additionally included a list of nine other concerns connected to measures taken against insider trading.
Cortez Masto wrote:
“This improbable increase in trades against Maduro’s continued authority in Venezuela mere hours before Maduro’s capture exemplifies the dangers of unregulated gaming.”
CFTC regulations show that war, assassination, and terrorism contracts are banned if they are harmful to the public good, and due to this, the senator stressed that insider trading on these events can cause national security risks.
Aside from the U.S.-Venezuela trade on Polymarket, a number of contracts on the U.S. military striking Iran by June 30, 2026, have generated over $16.8 million in trading volume.
In November 2025, CFTC Chairman Michael Selig stated that it is extremely important for the regulator to make sure that event contracts are not subject to manipulation.
House Bill 1047, which aimed to legalize online and retail sports betting in Oklahoma, was rejected by the Senate on April 22, 2026, by a 27-21 vote.Despite having tribal...
