A U.S. particular forces soldier accused of using labeled files about the operation to rob away Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro from administrative center to provide prediction market bets pleaded no longer responsible to federal prices Tuesday.
Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, became charged Friday with unlawful consume of confidential authorities files for non-public salvage, theft of nonpublic authorities files, commodities fraud, wire fraud and making an unlawful monetary transaction.
U.S. District Select Margaret Garnett, who is presiding over the case in Novel York, launched him on a $250,000 non-public recognizance bond and restricted his shuttle to Novel York, North Carolina and California.
The ny federal prosecutors issue that Van Dyke, who is stationed at Castle Bragg, North Carolina, bet $33,034 on the Maduro raid on Polymarket, which amounted to more than $409,000 in ill-gotten gains.
Van Dyke’s protection attorney, Zach Intrater, acknowledged Tuesday that Van Dyke is on dash some distance flung from the militia. As of now, his diagram with the militia is “unsettled,” Intrater acknowledged.
Since 2008, Van Dyke has been an active-duty soldier within the Navy, constant with the indictment. In 2023, he became a grasp sergeant with Navy Particular Forces.
Van Dyke “participated within the planning and execution of the U.S. militia operation to grab Nicolás Maduro,” prosecutors alleged. “In total, Van Dyke made roughly 13 bets from Dec. 27, 2025, by the evening of Jan. 26.”
Maduro and his better half had been captured on Jan. 3 throughout a dumb evening raid in Caracas implemented by U.S. forces.
Shayne Coplan, Polymarket’s founder and CEO, acknowledged on X that he became “grateful” to the Justice Department for publicly recognizing the firm’s cooperation within the case.
“Noise aside, the reality is we work proactively with all relevant authorities on any suspicious activity on our marketplace. We flagged this, referred it, and cooperated throughout the process,” Coplan acknowledged. “This happens constantly behind the scenes, despite what many are led to believe.”
After the authorities arrested Maduro and transported him aboard the U.S.Iwo Jima, a photograph of Van Dyke became taken and uploaded to his Google yarn, constant with the indictment.
Prosecutors acknowledged the image showed Van Dyke on what regarded to be the deck of a ship at sea throughout daybreak. In the photo, he became carrying U.S. militia fatigues and carrying a rifle with three diversified of us additionally carrying fatigues, constant with the indictment.
The characterize became no longer integrated within the indictment, and NBC News has no longer reviewed it.
“The the same day of the operation, Van Dyke withdrew the massive majority of his allegedly unlawful proceeds from his Polymarket yarn,” federal prosecutors acknowledged.
Three days after the Maduro raid, on Jan. 6, Van Dyke asked Polymarket to delete his yarn and falsely claimed he had misplaced entry to the electronic mail address, authorities acknowledged.
He tried to provide an yarn on Kalshi, a rival prediction market platform, constant with a spokesperson for the firm. The spokesperson acknowledged Van Dyke failed to pass Kalshi’s user verification route of, referred to as Know Your Buyer, or KYC.
Van Dyke’s next court docket appearance is scheduled for June.
