Trump Announces Imprisonment of Venezuelan Leaker Amid Investigation of Prediction Markets

Trump Announces Imprisonment of Leaker

American President Donald Trump stated that "the leaker from Venezuela has been found and is in jail," a declaration that has drawn attention back to prediction markets following a series of well-timed bets earlier this month. "The leaker from Venezuela has been found and is in jail right now," Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday, according to a video posted by The Wall Street Journal.

Although Trump did not explicitly mention prediction markets, blockchain analysts such as Lookonchain speculated that the leaker might be connected to a group of Polymarket accounts that placed concentrated bets on the outcome related to Venezuela just hours before the news broke. "We noticed that two of the three wallets that previously profited from bets on the removal of Venezuelan President Maduro had been inactive for 11 days," Lookonchain wrote in a post on X on Thursday.

Some accounts remain active with bets on Iran. Referring to the inactive wallets, Lookonchain highlighted the Polymarket account 0xa72DB1, which transformed a $5,800 stake into $75,000 by betting that Maduro would be removed by January 31, 2026. Lookonchain also noted account 0x31a56e, which placed multiple bets on events in Venezuela before disappearing from Polymarket around January 8.

The remaining wallet, SBet365, placed another bet two days ago, predicting that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be removed by January 31, Lookonchain observed. SBet365 was also among the accounts that garnered significant profits from bets on Venezuela, earning approximately $140,000 from wagers related to Maduro's ousting. "There may be other [leakers], and we will keep you informed about that," Trump said, referring to the imprisoned Venezuelan leaker.

These events have occurred in the context of a thorough investigation into prediction markets, with U.S. legislators promoting a bill to combat insider trading in political betting. Sean Patrick Maloney, the president and CEO of the Coalition for Prediction Markets, a national alliance formed in late 2025, stated that coalition members are already banning insider trading by applying strict client knowledge policies.