Overview
Active-duty U.S. Army Master Sergeant stationed at Fort Bragg; member of the special-forces team that planned and executed Operation Absolute Resolve, the January 2026 covert capture of Nicolás Maduro. Indicted in the Southern District of New York in April 2026 for allegedly betting on the operation’s success on Polymarket using classified insider knowledge — first high-profile criminal prosecution of Insider Trading on Prediction Markets tied to a national-security operation.
Key Facts
- Master Sergeant — senior NCO, key tactical leader at Army battalion level — per Special Forces Soldier Polymarket Insider Trading — CNN
- Stationed at Fort Bragg
- Opened Polymarket account late December 2025; placed 13 bets between December 27 and January 2; final bet placed hours before the overnight Maduro capture
- Initial wager: ~$32,000 on Maduro being “out” by January (a long-shot at the time)
- Profit: $400,000+
- Routed winnings through a foreign cryptocurrency vault → online brokerage account (alleged concealment)
- 5 SDNY criminal charges: stealing/misusing confidential government information, theft, fraud — Jay Clayton, US Attorney
- Parallel CFTC civil complaint
- Photographed post-operation on a ship at sea at sunrise in U.S. military fatigues
Newsletter Relevance
The first criminal defendant in a prediction-market insider-trading case tied to U.S. national-security operations. His prosecution sets the playbook (DOJ + CFTC parallel filings; SDNY venue; foreign crypto vault detection) for any future cases.
Connections
- Polymarket — venue
- Operation Absolute Resolve — classified-information source
- Nicolás Maduro — subject of bet
- CFTC — parallel civil complainant
Source Appearances
Open Questions
- Plea and arraignment outcome
- Whether other military / intelligence personnel on Operation Absolute Resolve placed parallel bets
- Whether the prosecution succeeds under existing theft / fraud statutes (no clean “prediction-market insider trading” statute exists)