A mystery trader pockets over $4,00,000 in profits betting on Maduro's capture

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was captured by US forces along with his wife in an operation on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday and flown to the US, where he has pleaded "not guilty" to all charges levelled against him.

Someone just ended up pocketing over $4,00,000 in profits, predicting that this is an event that might just happen.

In a story first reported by Reuters, a mystery trader ended up getting a $4,10,000 profit after he built up contracts tied to Maduro's removal. Those contracts, which were valued at around $34,000 before the raid, surged in value after the news of the US operation on ground broke.

The unknown trader, who built his positions on the Polymarket platform, may attract scrutiny from US lawmakers, who have been pushing for stricter insider trading rules, including a potential ban on stock trading by lawmakers.

Democratic congressman Ritchie Torres said that he would introduce a bill later this week that will ban elected officials, lawmakers and federal employees from placing bets on prediction market platforms, where they could potentially access material non-public information.

This anonymous account was created last month, according to the report, where the trader had bought contracts worth $96 on December 27, betting that the move will pay off if the US invades Venezuela by January 31. Several large bets were made from the same account in subsequent days.

In September, Polymarket secured approval from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission to relaunch its operations in the country, following its $112 million acquisition of QCEX, a CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange and clearinghouse. It has earlier faced scrutiny of potential insider trading taking place on the platform.