Authorities arrest special forces soldier who allegedly made $400k on Polymarket bet involving Maduro operation
The soldier is accused of using classified government information to inform a wager on the prediction market Polymarket.
A special forces soldier involved in the operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department. His alleged crime? Making numerous bets on the prediction market Polymarket that Maduro would be removed from power, for which he is said to have made upwards of $400,000.
Authorities claim Gannon Ken Van Dyke, who was involved in the “planning and execution” of Operation Absolute Resolve (the stratagem that toppled and captured the Venezuelan leader), made bets on Polymarket about whether the U.S. would deploy forces into Venezuela and remove Maduro from power.
Related Knowledge Center: Prediction markets
Platforms are offering a way for users trade positions — place bets — on a wide range of possible events, and newsrooms are starting to incorporate the data.
As the business rapidly grows, critics and opponents are pushing back. Numerous states have argued that the markets are gambling, and sports gambling in particular is regulated by the state. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, now led by a Trump appointee, disagrees — as did a federal district court judge in a suit involving New Jersey.
Critics see some of the markets as, particularly in the case of military actions, indefensible, and note as well that some large, well-timed bets — “event contracts” — suggest an abuse of insider knowledge of federal actions.