Big profits for unpleasant people?

Is it feasible for terrorists and invaders to earn profits from financial markets?

When Saddam Hussain invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, the price of crude oil went up in a short period from about $40 to about $90. There were rumours at the time that some persons connected with the Iraqi regime had established positions on crude oil derivatives ahead of time. An investigation was triggered, which did not uncover evidence in support of the claim.

More recently, two American law professors wrote a fascinating paper “Trading on terror?”  (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3­/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4652027), in which they suggested there were unusual speculative positions in Israeli securities prior to the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack,