US soldier involved in Maduro capture arrested & charged for betting & winning S$523,000 on Polymarket on event coming to pass

A U.S. soldier involved in the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro was arrested and charged on Apr. 23 for allegedly betting on that operation.

He apparently won more than US$409,000 (S$523,088.51), BBC reported.

The U.S. special forces soldier, identified as Gannon Ken Van Dyke, held the rank of Master Sergeant.

Part of Operation Absolute Resolve

Prosecutors alleged that Van Dyke was involved in planning and executing the operation that led to the capture of Maduro on Jan. 3.

He apparently had access to classified information before he placed the bet.

While his winnings were anonymous, it caught the attention of law enforcement.

According to CNN, court documents revealed that he was photographed just after the operation on the deck of a ship at sea, at sunrise, wearing military fatigues, and carrying a rifle.

He was standing alongside three other individuals wearing military fatigues as well.

Polymarket bet

Van Dyke allegedly opened a Polymarket account in late December 2025.

He was accused of making bets of more than US$33,000 (S$42,034) that Maduro would be “out” by January 2026.

Van Dyke apparently placed 13 bets from Dec. 27, 2025, to Jan. 2, 2026, the last of which was hours before the overnight capture.

Prosecutors alleged that Van Dyke sent his winnings to a foreign cryptocurrency vault before depositing them into an online brokerage account.

Van Dyke faces five criminal charges for stealing and misusing confidential government information, as well as theft and fraud.

Polymarket response

In a statement on X on Apr. 24, the cryptocurrency-based prediction market said it “identified a user trading on classified government information” and “referred the matter to the DOJ & cooperated with their investigation”.

“Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today's arrest is proof the system works,” Polymarket added.

Trump response

U.S. president Donald Trump told reporters on Apr. 23 that he is concerned about the growing trend of betting on geopolitical events.

When asked about Van Dyke, Tump said he was not familiar with the specifics of the incident.

Trump proceeded to compare it to “Pete Rose betting on his own team”, referring to the late baseball player who was banned from baseball for gambling.

Top photos via The White House & Polymarket/ Instagram