Jury to decide on insider trader case

(CNN)– A judge ruled a jury needs to decide whether prediction market bets can be prosecuted as insider trading.

The judge rejected a special forces soldier’s motion to dismiss commodities fraud charges tied to bets he made on the capture of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro.

The soldier, Gannon Ken Van Dyke was involved in the planning and capture of Maduro.

He argued his bets on Polymarket was a form of gambling that had no broader economic consequences and therefore are not subject to commodities laws.

Prosecutors opposed the motion.

They said the bets are event contracts under commodities law because they could have been used by Venezuelan debt holders or energy companies to hedge their exposure.