Special Forces Sgt. in Polymarket Maduro raid bet case released; Kalshi says it blocked him

The Polymarket prediction market website is displayed on a computer screen, Jan. 11, 2026, in New York. Wyatte Grantham-Philips | AP The Army Special Forces soldier criminally charged in connection with making hugely profitable bets on Polymarket related to the U.S. military raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was released Friday on an unsecured $250,000 bond after appearing in federal court in Raleigh, North Carolina. Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke was ordered to appear Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan , where he has been indicted on wire fraud and other charges related to allegedly using classified information about the planned operation to win nearly $410,000 from the bets and then trying to cover up the scheme. Van Dyke, who has served in the Army since 2008, was arrested Thursday in North Carolina, where he is based at Fort Bragg. Kalshi , Polymarket's leading competitor in the prediction markets sector, confirmed on Friday that it had blocked Van Dyke from opening a Kalshi account. Reuters first reported that Kalshi had blocked Van Dyke's attempt to create an account. Elisabeth Diana, a spokeswoman for Kalshi, said she could not give details of when the 38-year-old Van Dyke tried to open an account or why he was prevented from doing so. But a civil lawsuit filed against Van Dyke on Thursday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission alleges that on Dec. …