Khaberni - CNN reported that an American special forces soldier who participated in the operation to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was arrested for betting on the operation, winning $400,000.
This major deal associated with the operation named "Operation Absolute Resolve" caught the attention of the security agencies almost immediately.
According to the indictment revealed on Thursday, First Sergeant Gannon Kin Van Dyke opened an account in late December on "Polymarket", one of the most famous prediction markets. He bet approximately $32,000 that Maduro would be "out of power" by January. This bet was considered a long shot.
Van Dyke faces five criminal charges and will make his first court appearance in North Carolina. He is an active-duty soldier stationed at Fort Bragg. No lawyer has been listed for him in the court records so far.
Van Dyke placed 13 bets from December 27 to January 2, just hours before the nighttime capture operation. Prosecutors mentioned that Van Dyke transferred his profits exceeding $400,000 to a foreign cryptocurrency vault before depositing it in an online brokerage account.
Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, stated, "Those entrusted with the protection of our nation's secrets have a duty to protect them and our military personnel, not to use that information for personal financial gain."
CNN reported last month that federal prosecutors were investigating the betting related to Maduro, according to someone familiar with the matter. Officials from the Anti-Fraud Division of the Securities and Commodities at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan met with representatives from the "Polymarket" platform last month.
After placing the bets, the U.S. military conducted a secret operation and arrested Maduro from the presidential palace in Caracas under heavy gunfire. Maduro was transferred to New York to face federal charges related to drug trafficking and has pleaded not guilty.
