Lawyers for Gannon Ken Van Dyke, the active-duty U.S. Army soldier accused of using nonpublic information to trade on Polymarket, have urged a federal judge to reject the CFTC's request to file an amicus brief in his criminal case. In the filing dated August 24, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the defense opposed the regulator's attempt to present views on several arguments, including that event contracts do not qualify as swaps subject to CFTC authority. Van Dyke has pleaded not guilty. The CFTC has argued that the contracts fall within the commodities laws it administers, while the defense disputes that interpretation as part of its motion to dismiss. Prosecutors allege Van Dyke used nonpublic information tied to Operation Absolute Resolve, a mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, to place bets on the platform between December 30, 2025, and January 2, 2026, buying more than 436,000 Yes shares under the handle Burdensome-Mix and generating over $404,000 in profits. The CFTC has described the action as its first insider-trading enforcement involving event contracts and its first use of the Eddie Murphy Rule. The case involves parallel criminal and civil proceedings, with the civil case stayed on August 10, 2026. The procedural dispute raises broader questions about the legal status of prediction-market event contracts, and the court has yet to rule on the amicus request while the motion to dismiss remains pending.