US special forces soldier charged with Polymarket betting on Nicolas Maduro raid

A US special forces soldier involved in the military operation that captured Nicolas Maduro has been charged with allegedly betting on the raid.

Gannon Ken Van Dyke used his access to classified information to make money on prediction platform Polymarket, which allows users to make bets on real-life global events.

He allegedly bet $33,034 (£24,538) on the Venezuelan leader being captured by US forces in January, the federal prosecutor's office in New York said.

Maduro was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges and has pleaded not guilty.

Van Dyke, an active duty soldier stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, made more than $409,000 (£354,817) as a result, an unsealed indictment alleges.

The US Department of Justice said Van Dyke made 13 bets between 27 December 2025 and 26 January 2026, the last being hours before the overnight capture.

Van Dyke, 38, has been charged with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction, according to the indictment.

He could face years in prison.

Authorities said he "participated in the planning and execution of the US military operation to capture Nicolas Maduro".

An image uploaded to his Google account showed him in military fatigues and carrying a rifle on the USS Iwo Jima, just hours after Maduro was transported to the United States on the ship, prosecutors alleged in the indictment.

Three days after Maduro's capture, Van Dyke asked Polymarket to delete his account, "falsely claiming that he had lost access to the email address", federal authorities said.

After collecting his winnings, Van Dyke sent most of the money to a foreign cryptocurrency vault, the Justice Department said.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates Polymarket, said it was also hitting Van Dyke with civil charges.

"Insider trading has no place on Polymarket," the company added in a post on X.

"Today's arrest is proof the system works."

Asked about the incident, US President Donald Trump said he does not like the concept of betting.

He said it was "like Pete Rose betting on his own team", in reference to the Major League Baseball coach who was banned for wagering money on sides he was managing.

"The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino," Trump added when asked more generally about betting markets and bets placed on major geopolitical events.

"I'm not happy with any of that stuff," Trump continued.

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FBI Director Kash Patel said the indictment "makes clear no one is above the law, and this FBI will do whatever it takes to defend the homeland and safeguard our nation's secrets."

(c) Sky News 2026: US special forces soldier charged with Polymarket betting on Nicolas Maduro raid