US soldier accused of placing $400,000 bet on Maduro’s removal

A US Army soldier involved in the capture of Nicolas Maduro has been charged with making $400,000 ‌by betting on the removal of the ousted Venezuelan leader, the Justice Department said on Thursday, Reuters writes.

In the weeks leading up to Maduro’s Jan. 3 capture, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a master sergeant with US Army Special Forces, used sensitive classified information to make wagers on prediction market Polymarket that US ​forces would enter Venezuela and that Maduro would be out of power.

A grand jury in Manhattan federal court indicted ​Van Dyke, 38, on charges of unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft ⁠of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction.