A federal judge in New York has paused the CFTC's civil case against Gannon Ken Van Dyke until a parallel criminal prosecution concludes, leaving the regulator's fraud claims unresolved while the higher-stakes case proceeds. Prosecutors allege the active-duty US Army Special Forces master sergeant used nonpublic military information tied to Operation Absolute Resolve and Nicolás Maduro's Jan. 3 capture to place 13 Venezuela-related Polymarket event contracts between Dec. 27 and Jan. 2, spending about $33,934 and generating roughly $409,881 in profit. Van Dyke has pleaded not guilty, is challenging whether the contracts qualify as swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act, and the dispute could influence how U.S. commodities and fraud laws are applied to alleged insider trading on prediction markets.