The US soldier charged over $400 000 bet on Venezuelan presidentʼs arrest

The United States has indicted a military man who won $400 000 betting on the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

This was reported by the US Department of Justice.

According to the agency, Special Agent Gannon Ken Van Dyke earned this money through betting on the Polymarket platform. He was one of those who planned the operation to capture Nicolas Maduro and had access to confidential information, which he used for betting.

The man was betting on whether the US would invade Venezuela and whether Maduro would resign by January 31. In total, he bet just over $33,000 and won almost $410 000. He transferred most of the money to an offshore crypto wallet and then to a new brokerage account. On the day of the transaction, he withdrew almost all of the funds from Polymarket.

When the media reported on the strange bets, he tried to hide his involvement: he asked to delete the account, claiming that he had lost access to his email, and also changed the email in his crypto account to a fake one.

The military officer was charged with violating the law on commodity exchanges, fraud, and illegal money transactions.

US operation in Venezuela

On the night of January 3, the United States, acting on the orders of President Donald Trump, struck several military targets in Caracas, Venezuela. In total, at least 11 targets were hit, including the parliament building, air bases, and a seaport.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared a state of emergency across the country. He and his wife, Cilia Flores, were later arrested and deported to the United States. Both were charged with narcoterrorism, cocaine importation, illegal possession of machine guns and explosives, and conspiracy against the United States.

The Supreme Court of Venezuela appointed Delcy Rodriguez as the interim head of state. And on the evening of January 3, Nicolas Maduro was taken to the federal detention center, the Metropolitan Detention Center, in New York.

Rodriguez has agreed to cooperate with the US. The AP reported that Rodriguez is involved in a dozen US drug trafficking investigations, but the US authorities have never brought charges against her. The acting president of Venezuela has also been linked to corruption schemes by Colombian businessman and close associate of Nicolas Maduro, Alex Saaba.

On January 10, Trump said that the United States was ready to sell Venezuelan oil to Russia, China and other countries. According to him, buyers would be able to receive any amount of oil. Already on January 15, CNN, citing sources, wrote that the United States had officially sold oil from Venezuela for the first time for $500 million.

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