00:00A US Special Forces soldier was arrested on April 23rd for using classified
00:04information about the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro to
00:09place bets on Polymarket, winning more than $400,000.
00:14Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke was directly involved in the planning and
00:18execution of Operation Absolute Resolve, the dangerous January 3rd Special
00:23Forces raid on Maduro's compound in Caracas, and had access to sensitive,
00:27non-public, and classified information about the operation, according to the
00:32Justice Department. The soldier's involvement in the planning and
00:35execution of the raid started on December 8th, according to prosecutors.
00:39Between December 27th and January 2nd, Van Dyke allegedly made around 13 bets on
00:45binary propositions related to Maduro and Venezuela, such as US forces being in
00:50Venezuela, that Maduro would be out of power, the US would invade Venezuela, and
00:55that Trump would invoke war powers against Venezuela, all by the end of January.
01:00The soldier allegedly profited some $409,000 from the bets and took steps to
01:06conceal his identity and winnings, placing his ill-gotten proceeds into foreign
01:10cryptocurrency accounts. On April 23rd, the betting platform announced on its
01:15social media,
01:16Last month, we published our enhanced market integrity rules to combat insider
01:21trading. When we identified a user trading on classified government
01:24information, we referred the matter to the DOJ and cooperated with their
01:29investigation. Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today's arrest is
01:34proof the system works, they wrote. Van Dyke was charged with three counts of
01:39violating the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud, and one count of
01:44unlawful monetary transaction. Asked about the soldiers arrest, Trump indicated he
01:49doesn't like the concept of predictive markets. The whole world, unfortunately, has
01:55become somewhat of a casino and you look at what's going on all over the world in
02:00Europe and every place they're doing these betting things, I was never much in
02:04favor of it, I don't like it conceptually. If convicted, Van Dyke faces a
02:08maximum of 60 years in prison.
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