US soldier charged with profiting from inside knowledge of Venezuela raid

[mike]

I’ve always wondered how this sort of thing doesn’t just happen all the time with these sites that let people gamble on anything and everything. There are many people with inside knowledge of events. Who’s stopping them from betting on those things?

BREAKING: DOJ announces it has arrested a US Special Forces soldier who took part in the raid that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro after the soldier allegedly pocketed $400,000 by betting more than $30,000 on Maduro’s removal on Polymarket.

Name: GANNON KEN VAN DYK

[Anthony]

Nothing, this is why gambling and making money off of stuff like this is immoral and is banned in sane societies

[ken_sylvania]

Who’s stopping them from betting on those things?

Same folks that are stopping all the other evils of society - nobody.

But, as the article mentions, a person can apparently get arrested for such stunts.

[barnhart]

An anonymous person also took home a lot money by betting on the timing of airstrikes in Iran. Maybe the FBI could look into that.

[JohnH]

An anonymous person also took home a lot money by betting on the timing of airstrikes in Iran. Maybe the FBI could look into that.

International customers can be entirely anonymous and it would be difficult to impossible to find out who placed such bets.

[Pelerin]

Sometimes you have to nudge the hand of fate a bit.

[JohnH]

Sometimes you have to nudge the hand of fate a bit.

Excellent example of Goodhart’s Law.

[Jazman]

I’ve always wondered how this sort of thing doesn’t just happen all the time with these sites that let people gamble on anything and everything. There are many people with inside knowledge of events. Who’s stopping them from betting on those things?

BREAKING: DOJ announces it has arrested a US Special Forces soldier who took part in the raid that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro after the soldier allegedly pocketed $400,000 by betting more than $30,000 on Maduro’s removal on Polymarket.

Name: GANNON KEN VAN DYK

I'm kind of surprised they arrested someone... the vibe I've been getting from the DOJ these days is that crime, especially the white-collar type is mostly ok, especially if you're rich and powerful already...
Maybe this is the scapegoat so the others, mostly likely congressman, etc higher up can get away with the bets and money they made?

[JohnH]

I'm kind of surprised they arrested someone... the vibe I've been getting from the DOJ these days is that crime, especially the white-collar type is mostly ok, especially if you're rich and powerful already...

Maybe your vibes were wrong, and the DOJ is not actually doing any of that.

Maybe this is the scapegoat so the others, mostly likely congressman, etc higher up can get away with the bets and money they made?

Congress is exempt from laws against insider trading and similar things because Congress hasn’t passed laws restricting its own members. The fact congressman often enter office and make millions of dollars is an oft-repeated fact, such as Nancy Pelosi’s net worth climbing to $250-$400 million after 38 years in Congress; gaining $8 million a year on a $175k salary is impressive.

The DOJ has no leeway at all to decide to prosecute someone like Nancy Pelosi for something that isn’t even illegal (even if it shouldn’t be).

[temporal1]

i’m pretty convinced life was generally better when families, churches, schools, clubs+groups taught and led the positives of seeking higher moral ground through such as, “honesty is the best policy”, “the honor system”, along with real life examples of self-sacrifice for the greater good, etc.

Exchanging all that for law school’s brutal, “whatever you can get away with in the moment”, has been a major societal loss.
The evidence is compounding.