{"id":1339,"date":"2026-04-24T20:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/birdstone-n.com\/?p=1339"},"modified":"2026-04-24T20:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:28:13","slug":"us-special-forces-soldier-arrested-after-allegedly-winning-400000-on-maduro-raid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/birdstone-n.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/us-special-forces-soldier-arrested-after-allegedly-winning-400000-on-maduro-raid\/","title":{"rendered":"US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400,000 on Maduro raid"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\"Captured<\/picture><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
Captured Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro arrives at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in New York City, US, on January 5, 2026. REUTERS\/Eduardo Munoz<\/span><\/div>\n

Eduardo Munoz\/Reuters<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

A US special forces soldier involved in the\u00a0capture of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u00a0was\u00a0<\/strong>arrested and charged for allegedly betting on that operation, netting him $400,000 in profits.<\/p>\n

According to an\u00a0indictment unsealed Thursday, Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke opened an account in late December on Polymarket, one of the best-known prediction markets. He wagered over $32,000 that Maduro would be \u201cout\u201d by January. The bet was a long-shot.<\/p>\n

But Van Dyke was involved in the planning and execution of Operation Absolute Resolve, prosecutors allege, and had access to classified information before he placed the bet. His winnings, though anonymous, caught the attention of law enforcement almost immediately.<\/p>\n

Van Dyke, an active duty soldier stationed at Fort Bragg, faces five criminal charges for stealing and misusing confidential government information, theft and fraud.<\/p>\n

He appeared in court in North Carolina on Friday and paid a $250,000 bond. He is set to be arraigned in New York City on Tuesday and also had to surrender his passport.<\/p>\n

Van Dyke allegedly made 13 bets from December 27 to January 2, the last being hours before the overnight capture. Prosecutors said Van Dyke sent his more than $400,000 in profits to a foreign cryptocurrency vault before he deposited them in an online brokerage account.<\/p>\n

A master sergeant in the Army is a senior noncommissioned officer, considered a key tactical leader and technical expert and serving as the principal NCO typically at the Army battalion level. Senior NCOs are often looked to for setting and upholding the standard for more junior soldiers in the unit.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\"elie<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400,000 on Maduro raid<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
0:40<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThose entrusted to safeguard our nation\u2019s secrets have a duty to protect them and our armed service members, and not to use that information for personal financial gain,\u201d said Jay Clayton, US attorney for the Southern District of New York.<\/p>\n

Van Dyke was photographed just after the operation \u2013 and from when he placed his final bet \u2013 on \u201cwhat appears to be the deck of a ship at sea, at sunrise wearing U.S. military fatigues, and carrying a rifle, standing alongside three other individuals wearing U.S. military fatigues,\u201d court documents say.<\/p>\n

Van Dyke profited more than $400,000, prosecutors say. He then allegedly moved those winnings to a foreign cryptocurrency vault before he deposited them in an online brokerage account in what prosecutors called an attempt to conceal their origin.<\/p>\n

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a\u00a0related complaint\u00a0against Van Dyke on Thursday, seeking restitution, disgorgement and civil monetary penalties.<\/p>\n

CNN\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0last month that federal prosecutors were investigating the Maduro trade, according to a person familiar with the matter. The chiefs of the securities and commodity fraud unit at the US attorney\u2019s office in Manhattan met with representatives at Polymarket last month.<\/p>\n

After the bets were placed, the US military launched a covert operation that extradited Maduro from the presidential palace in Caracas in an overnight capture while coming under heavy fire. Maduro was transported to New York to face federal drug-trafficking related charges. He has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n

Polymarket in a\u00a0post on X<\/a>\u00a0said, \u201cWhen we identified a user trading on classified government information, we referred the matter to the DOJ & cooperated with their investigation. Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today\u2019s arrest is proof the system works.\u201d<\/p>\n

ABC News first reported Thursday\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n

Prediction markets face criticism<\/h2>\n

Trading on prediction markets has exploded the past year, with users now spending a few billion dollars each week on such sites.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers in Congress have introduced more than a dozen new bills this year to further regulate prediction markets. Some of the bills, which gained bipartisan support, would stiffen penalties against government officials who engage in insider trading.<\/p>\n

Trump told reporters Thursday he is\u00a0concerned about the growing trend of betting on geopolitical events. Asked about the charges against the US soldier, the president said he was not familiar with the specifics of the incident but compared it to baseball\u2019s all-time hit leader Pete Rose.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s like\u00a0Pete Rose betting on his own team,\u201d Trump said, referring to the late baseball player who was banned from baseball for gambling.<\/p>\n

Pressed on whether he is concerned about betting tied to the war with Iran, Trump said it\u2019s a global issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell I think that the whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino,\u201d Trump said, adding that such betting is happening \u201call over the world, and every place they\u2019re doing these betting things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I think that I\u2019m not happy with it,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration approved Polymarket last year to start offering trades for American customers, but its US-facing site isn\u2019t fully operational yet. The Maduro-related trades occurred on Polymarket\u2019s highly popular international site.<\/p>\n

That site operates out of the reach of US regulations \u2013 which is how it\u2019s able to offer markets related to war, which is illegal under federal law. But experts say Americans can easily access the offshore site with a virtual private network, or VPN.<\/p>\n

There is a debate in the prediction market industry over the role of insiders in prediction markets. Some experts see these markets as a vehicle for information to flow more freely from insiders to the general public.<\/p>\n

Asked about insider trading risks, Polymarket\u2019s CEO\u00a0told Axios<\/a>\u00a0in November it was \u201csuper cool\u201d that his platform \u201ccreates this financial incentive for people to go and divulge the information to the market,\u201d including insiders.<\/p>\n

Polymarket\u00a0rolled out new rules\u00a0in March, to \u201cclarify three core categories of prohibited insider trading conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

They banned trades based on information that users were legally required to keep confidential, and trades based on tips from someone with the same obligation. They also said people in \u201ca position of authority or influence\u201d to affect the outcome of an event cannot participate in any related markets.<\/p>\n

This story has been updated following Van Dyke\u2019s court appearance on Friday.<\/em><\/p>\n

CNN\u2019s Marshall Cohen, Haley Britzky and Alejandria Jaramillo contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Captured Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro arrives at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in New York City, US, on January 5, 2026. REUTERS\/Eduardo Munoz Eduardo Munoz\/Reuters A US special forces soldier involved in the\u00a0capture of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u00a0was\u00a0arrested and charged for allegedly betting on that operation, netting him $400,000 in profits. According to an\u00a0indictment unsealed Thursday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/birdstone-n.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/birdstone-n.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/birdstone-n.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/birdstone-n.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/birdstone-n.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/birdstone-n.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1340,"href":"https:\/\/birdstone-n.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions\/1340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/birdstone-n.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/birdstone-n.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/birdstone-n.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}