US special forces soldier who helped capture Venezuelan President Maduro is ARRESTED for 'placing bet on the raid'

Published: 22:59, 23 April 2026 | Updated: 23:28, 23 April 2026 A US special forces soldier has been arrested for allegedly placing a bet on the raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, despite being part of the operation. American soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke is accused of placing a $32,000 bet on Polymarket - one of the best-known prediction markets - that Maduro would be 'out' by January, later pocketing $400,000 after the president’s capture.  'Today’s announcement makes clear no one is above the law, and this FBI will do whatever it takes to defend the homeland and safeguard our nation’s secrets,' FBI Director Kash Patel said. 'Any clearance holders thinking of cashing in their access and knowledge for personal gain will be held accountable,' he added. He created the account on or around December 26, 2025, then funded it and began trading on Maduro and Venezuela-related markets, according to the US Attorney’s Office.  In total, Van Dyke allegedly placed about 13 bets between late December and early January, repeatedly backing 'Yes' outcomes on scenarios involving US military action in Venezuela and Trump's invocation of war powers by January 31, 2026.  In the early hours of January 3 - just days after opening his account - US forces captured Maduro in a covert nighttime raid under heavy fire in Caracas, an operation Van Dyke helped carry out himself.  Van Dyke, an active-duty soldier stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, is now facing five criminal charges.  Maduro was then transported to New York City, where he has pleaded not guilty to federal drug-trafficking charges.  But the scale of trading linked to Operation Absolute Resolve immediately raised red flags for law enforcement, according to the US Attorney's Office. Just last month, Maduro, 63, returned to court alongside his wife after spending nearly three months locked up at the grim federal prison. It marked Maduro and former first lady Cilia Flores’s first appearance before a New York judge since their arraignment, having been held at the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after their dramatic arrests in January. The socialist leader, wearing prison clothing and restrained by leg shackles, looked strikingly thinner in the face as he entered the courtroom.  He smiled politely and greeted his team in English, telling his lawyer Barry Pollack he looked ‘elegant.’ Meanwhile, his wife, Cilia Flores, 69, appeared to have fully recovered from injuries reportedly sustained during the couple’s capture, no longer wearing bandages or showing visible facial bruising.  This is a breaking news story.   Captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is escorted in Manhattan for an initial appearance to face U.S. federal charges including narco-terrorism, conspiracy, drug trafficking, money laundering and others on January 5, 2026 Trump shared on Truth Social a photo of Nicolas Maduro captured and subdued  The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.