An American soldier who won over $400,000 betting on whether former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro would be removed has been arrested.Gannon Ken Van Dyke, who was an active duty soldier in the US Army stationed at Fort Bragg at the time of Maduro's capture, has been charged by the US Department of Justice.He 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.Van Dyke allegedly made the bets on Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based prediction market where users can bet on a seemingly endless range of events, from outcomes of elections, wars, and the weather in a certain area.He won more than $409,000 as a result of his bet..The DOJ alleges that he won the bet due to his knowledge of classified information due to his role at Fort Bragg. Van Dyke allegedly not only bet on the capture happening but also bet on the correct date and time, resulting in his massive win.Authorities say that Van Dyke made an account on the Polymarket site just over a week before the operation to remove the Venezuelan president occurred.According to his account, he had bet over $33,000 in Venezuela-related markets, making a significant amount of money due to his knowledge of military intelligence.As a soldier he has signed a nondisclosure agreement saying, 'Never divulge, publish, or reveal by writing, words, conduct, or otherwise... any classified or sensitive information' relating to military operations. " By betting on a situation about which he had classified knowledge, he violated this agreement, the DOJ says.In response to this situation, Polymarket put out a statement saying, "When we identified a user trading on classified government information, we referred the matter to the DOJ & cooperated with their investigation."Van Dyke has since been released on a $250,000 bond.
