New York .- The United States Department of Justice accused a soldier this Thursday of using classified information about the capture of the deposed president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, to make bets with which he won about 400,000 dollars.
The soldier, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38 years old, participated in the planning and execution of the operation that led to the capture of Maduro on January 3rd, and used the information to profit on Polymarket, one of the main prediction markets, according to a statement.
Van Dyke, who was stationed at a military base in North Carolina, made 13 bets between December 27 and January 2, 2026 and “took steps to hide his identity as the ‘trader’ in the markets related to Maduro and Venezuela,” the note adds.
The Bet on Maduro’s Future
The federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, who is leading the case, stressed that the soldier’s actions were “clearly insider trading” and warned that prediction markets are not a “haven” for that scourge.
The soldier, subject to confidentiality agreements, was involved in the so-called
“Absolute Resolution Operation” since December 8, 2025.
The 26th was when he created an account on Polymarket and started making bets related to
Maduro and Venezuela for a value of 33,000 dollars, answering «sí» to positions on whether the Chavista leader would be «out» before December 31, 2026, among others.
When asked by the press, U.S. President Donald Trump said he didn’t know about the news but recalled the case of baseball player Pete Rose, who was banned from the MLB league precisely for “betting on his own team,” in the words of the president.
The man is charged with three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud, and one count of illegal monetary transaction, with maximum sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years in prison for each charge, if found guilty.
