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

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. 

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. 

During a covert overnight mission, US troops captured Maduro in Caracas under heavy fire and transported him to New York City, where he now faces federal drug-trafficking charges. He has pleaded not guilty.

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.