CFTC, US soldier accused of illegal Polymarket bet spar over interpretation of prediction markets

Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a soldier who allegedly made more than $400,000 using nonpublic information to trade event contracts on prediction market platform Polymarket, is pushing back against attempts by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to weigh in on his criminal case.

In a Monday filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Van Dyke’s lawyers opposed the CFTC’s efforts to file an amicus brief relating to claims in his case. The letter referred to the commodities regulator’s counsel filing a notice requesting permission from the court to provide its views on many of Van Dyke’s defense claims, including that event contracts on platforms like Polymarket were not “swaps” under the purview of the CFTC.

“The CFTC is no sheep ‘friend of the Court’ here,” said defense attorneys. “It is a regulatory wolf, with its own case against Mr. Van Dyke that it refuses to pursue itself. Rather, like a true coursing predator, the CTFC seeks to advance its own interests through the back door of an amicus brief instead of facing its own case against Mr. Van Dyke head on. This Court should not countenance the CFTC’s litigation gambits.”

US authorities charged Van Dyke with fraud in April over allegations he traded event contracts on Polymarket related to the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, an operation for which he was privy to nonpublic information. The incident has been one of the leading cases lawmakers and critics of prediction markets point to as an example of potential manipulation on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket.

A federal judge already ordered that the CFTC’s civil case against Van Dyke be stayed “pending the outcome of the criminal proceeding.” He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and a criminal trial could potentially begin in late 2026 or early 2027.

Related: Kalshi ordered to stop broad range of prediction markets in Washington