US special forces soldier arrested after allegedly winning $400,000 on Maduro raid
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A US special forces soldier involved in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was arrested for allegedly betting on that operation, netting him $400,000 in profits, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The outsized trade caught the attention of law enforcement almost immediately.
The trader opened an account in late December on Polymarket, one of the best-known prediction markets. He placed about $32,000 that Maduro would be “out” by January. The bet was a long-shot.
Shortly after it was placed, the US military launched a covert operation that extradited Maduro from the presidential palace in Caracas in an overnight capture while coming under heavy fire. Maduro was transported to New York to face federal drug-trafficking related charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
CNN reported last month that federal prosecutors were investigating the Maduro trade, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The chiefs of the securities and commodity fraud unit at the US attorney’s office in Manhattan met with representatives at Polymarket that month.
ABC News first reported Thursday’s arrest.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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We live in a degraded country.
Its getting better all the time.
Hmmmm...........people with inside information about the government getting rich off of it.
Sounds like every politician ever.
And this is bad, right?
Except Omar. S/ Her net wealth went from 30 million to 100 thousand over night.
One hell of a drunk binge.
A soldier makes a bet on something he had intimate knowledge of via a unique wagering site. He was connected to the Maduro operation.
It does not involve stock trading. The soldier (a Master Seargeant) concealed his identity.
The only question should be what commitment did he make as a soldier concerning the military operations he was involved in. Does anyone know?
What the soldier did was wrong in many dimensions. Your post suggests that you think otherwise.
Interesting point. It will be interesting to see how the court handles it.
That alone makes me think he was aware what he was doing was shady at a minimum and illegal at a max. Again, it will be interesting to see how the court handles this.
I think an important question is did he know the date or time frame of the operation before placing the bet. I would also be interested in knowing the rules of the site that took the bet and I assume paid it out.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think he crosses the line only if he reveals the operation somehow.
Your post suggests that you think otherwise.
I'm looking at it from a certain perspective. I wonder if I would have done the same.
He was part of the planning. I assume he did.
I would also be interested in knowing the rules of the site that took the bet and I assume paid it out.
I'm not sure of the timeline, but for a while that site did not take bets from US citizens. BTW, he had to invest about $33,000 to make that score. He might have invested his lifesavings on what seemed to be a sure thing. What if the operation got cancelled?
You disapprove, right?
What do you think?
Why is it that you refuse to affirm one of the easiest questions?
One word would have done it.
OK.......I am 110% against it! That goes for all politicians including Nancy Pelosi, do you condemn Nancy Pelosi?
Yes, I have always been highly suspicious of Pelosi's use of insider information. But there is nothing more than circumstantial evidence / optics that suggest her husband's trade decisions were made with knowledge from Pelosi. So all we can do is speculate.
In general, there are very few federal politicians that I would consider to be honest and trustworthy. Regardless of party.
But today, the leader of the pack —setting new records of corruption and conflicts of interest— is Trump. And his corruption likely has encouraged substantially deeper levels of corruption in our government.
Just nothing but good news from that abysmal human being. So if you are truly against corruption, the main contemporary target for your criticism should be Trump.
Huge surprise.
Trump just preemptively entered the guy’s name into his presidential pardon form letter. He likes the guy’s initiative.
So? I wouldn't like it if he received a pardon but as the last administration showed us, the power of the Presidential pardon is practically unlimited.
I expect the pattern to repeat with mass pardons at the end of this administration. Especially since there have been some high-ranking Democrats who have publicly stated that they will work hard to prosecute any and all Trump supporters in the current administration.
He shouldn't wait. As long as the president has the power to pardon he should take advantage of it and we have no right to whine about it. IMO many presidents have gone way past the intention of article 2 section 2 and should be changed but fat chance of that.
A lot of MAGAs are under the delusion that Biden was the first to pardon cronies or family. Here is a list of Trumps pardons from his first term - some of them were donors, political allies or his inner circle flunkies
Office of the Pardon Attorney | Pardons Granted by President Donald J. Trump (2017-2021)
I don't know anyone that thinks that. Obviously I don't believe that since I stated "many presidents" (not to mention I am not MAGA). I do know several misinformed progressives that believe they know what MAGAS believe.
That is funny, a person betting on something like that deserves to loose
Did his bet in any way negatively effect to operation?
'Could it have?' is the important question.
Let's assume this is legalized. Now, what happens when a bunch of informed people start making bets using insider information?
First, this is patently unfair.
Second, this releases classified information, at least statistically, which could endanger the mission.
Third, this could affect how a betting soldier operates during the mission. Rather than focusing on the mission, s/he will have a bet in mind.
I would question if it could have effected anything in the operation. 400,000 is alot of temptation.
Indeed.
The movie Kelly's Heros comes to mind
Great movie.