US Special Forces Soldier Arrested for Insider Trading on Venezuela Operation Bets

U.S. Department of Justice arrested a special forces soldier on Thursday for allegedly using insider information to bet on the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, sources familiar with the arrest told ABC News. The soldier, involved in the capture of Maduro and his wife during the military operation, placed bets totaling more than $33,000 on Polymarket hours before President Donald Trump announced the operation's success.

These bets netted over $409,000. According to Polymarket data, the trader created an account in December 2025 and placed a $32,537 bet that Maduro would be out of office by January 31, yielding a 1,242% profit of $404,222.

President Trump announced Maduro's capture in January, stating: 'We're a respected country again like, maybe, like never before.' This arrest and indictment represent the first instance of the Department of Justice prosecuting insider trading on a prediction market, according to ABC News sources.

Polymarket, the world's largest prediction platform, enables anonymous bets on future events via yes-or-no questions. Prediction markets fall primarily under Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulation.

In addition to the $400,000 Maduro bet, another Polymarket user made roughly $550,000 through a series of bets related to the U.S. striking Iran and the removal of the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Noah Solowiejczyk, a partner at Fenwick & West and former federal prosecutor, stated that the Commodities Exchange Act prohibits federal government employees or agents from trading on confidential government information.

He added that prosecutors might face a 'learning curve' in explaining prediction markets to juries. Globally, similar actions have occurred; in February, Israeli authorities charged an army reservist and a civilian for using classified information to bet on Polymarket.