Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a soldier associated with America’s Special Forces, has been arrested. It is alleged that he bet on the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and earned about 4.09 lakh dollars (about Rs 4 crore) from it. Dyke is part of the US Army Special Forces (Green Beret). This unit had gone to Venezuela and arrested Nicolas Maduro. In such a situation, Dyke was already aware of the secret action taking place on Venezuela. On the basis of this information he placed the bet. The money received after his win, even though it was anonymous, immediately came under the suspicion of the investigating agencies. Dyke held the rank of Master Sergeant in the US Army. This is a senior post. Such an officer is considered an expert in strategic and technical matters and plays an important role in maintaining discipline and standards in the unit. Made 13 bets related to Maduro’s overthrow According to the investigation, Dike created an account on a platform named ‘Polymarket’ in late December. It is a platform where people place bets on future events. There were no people who believed in the incident of entering Venezuela and overthrowing President Maduro by December 2025. Dyke bet a total of $32,000 13 times on similar outcomes, such as how long Maduro would step down from power or how long the US would take military action in Venezuela. It was a risky bet, but with insider knowledge of the operation he was confident it would prove correct. As soon as the operation was successful, his bet proved correct and he got huge profits. Attempt to hide: Money transfer through crypto According to reports, Van Dyke took several steps to hide his identity. First he sent the amount to a foreign crypto vault, then transferred it to his personal crypto account and later transferred it to a new brokerage account. When reports of suspicious betting related to Maduro’s capture began to surface, he tried to delete his Polymarket account and lied that he did not have access to his email. However, by then the investigating agencies had caught sight of him. Polymarket said on social media that when they learned that a user was trading based on secret government information, they themselves handed the matter over to the Justice Department and cooperated in the investigation. The company said that such insider betting is against its policy. Van Dyke has been facing four serious charges. If found guilty on these charges, Dyke could face several years in jail. White House warns about suspicious betting This case is considered big because it is one of the most high-profile cases where a government employee made money from inside information through prediction markets. For this reason, the White House had already warned its employees to stay away from such platforms, especially at a time when questionable betting on matters related to the Iran war is also increasing. Prediction markets are platforms where people place bets on future events such as elections, wars or political changes. In this case, for the first time a military officer earned money by using secret information. Suspicious bets were placed even during the Iran war. This matter has come to light at a time when huge amounts of questionable bets were placed during the tension between America, Israel and Iran. According to reports: More than $1 billion of ‘well-timed’ bets were placed; $8.5 million bet was placed before the US attack; Heavy trading took place in oil futures ahead of the ceasefire. These incidents have raised the question of whether information is being leaked before major decisions. Trump said – The world has become a ‘casino’. On this whole controversy, Trump has said that now a new and dangerous trend is growing rapidly in the world. People have also started betting on political and international events. Because of this the world is becoming a kind of casino. Trump said he doesn’t like this kind of betting. However, he refrained from commenting much on this and said that this is a worrying trend.
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The soldier who entered Venezuela and captured President Maduro arrested: Earned 4 crores by betting on the coup, was already aware of the mission
