The American serviceman placed bets on the Polymarket platform, knowing about the plans to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The soldier faces a lengthy prison sentence.
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged an American serviceman who, according to investigators, earned over $400,000 on the prediction platform Polymarket by using confidential information about plans to arrest Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, according to a statement from the DOJ released on Thursday, April 23. The 38-year-old soldier, according to the department, participated in a U.S. military operation against Venezuela in early January.
According to the indictment, the serviceman bet about $33,000 on the prediction that Maduro would no longer be in power by the end of January and that U.S. troops would be deployed in Venezuela. The winnings amounted to nearly $410,000. Polymarket operates on the principle of exchange contracts: users place bets on the occurrence of certain events.
Attempt to Cover Tracks
The suspiciously successful bet drew attention back in January, and now the indictment may reveal who was behind it. The soldier is charged with violating the prohibition on using non-public government information for commercial purposes - he faces several decades in prison in total.
According to the indictment, the serviceman withdrew his winnings through a cryptocurrency account abroad and asked Polymarket to close his account to conceal his identity.
Controversial Platforms
Polymarket and another platform - Kalshi - are causing sharp debates in the U.S. Several states are trying to regulate them as betting services. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) insists that they are exchanges and considers them under its jurisdiction. It is the CFTC that filed a lawsuit against the serviceman.
Nicolás Maduro was detained by U.S. military forces in the Venezuelan capital Caracas in early January and transported to New York, where he faces charges including "narcoterrorism."
