A US special forces soldier who took part in the military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro has been arrested after allegedly making hundreds of thousands of dollars by betting on the removal of Venezuela’s former leader before the information became public.
The US Department of Justice has filed charges against Gannon Ken Van Dyke, alleging that he carried out transactions on Polymarket, a cryptocurrency based prediction platform, using classified information.
Van Dyke, an active duty US Army soldier based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, is said to have earned more than $409,000 through his bets.
“The defendant allegedly abused the trust placed in him by the United States government by using classified information about a sensitive military operation to place bets on the timing and outcome of that very operation, solely for personal gain,” said Jay Clayton, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. “This is a clear case of the exploitation of confidential information, which is illegal under federal law.”
US forces abducted Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their residence in Caracas during a night time raid on 3 January, transferring them to New York, where they remain in custody.
According to the Department of Justice, Van Dyke placed bets on the timing and outcome of the mission, known as “Operation Absolute Resolve,” “solely for personal gain.”
The statement said that on 26 December 2025, Van Dyke opened an account on Polymarket and began trading on outcomes related to Maduro and Venezuela. He is accused of placing bets exceeding $33,000 while in possession of classified, non public information about the operation.
He now faces charges including unlawful use of confidential government information for personal benefit, theft of non public government information, fraud and illegal monetary transactions, according to the indictment made public on Thursday.
Prediction markets allow users to bet on a range of economic, political and sporting outcomes. They fall under the regulatory framework of US law, although Polymarket also operates an offshore platform that allows investors to wager on a broader range of contracts.
“When we identified a user trading on the basis of classified government information, we referred the matter to the Department of Justice and cooperated fully with their investigation,” Polymarket said in a statement.
The company added: “The misuse of confidential information has no place on Polymarket. Today’s arrest shows that the system works.”
Source: skai.gr