The US led an audacious military operation on Saturday — launching a barrage of missiles at Venezuela and taking President Nicolás Maduro out of the country within minutes. Donald Trump said on Saturday that America would now “run the country” and tap its vast oil reserves for sale to other nations. But as the world watched in stunned surprise, two mysterious accounts on Polymarket made more than $500,000 while betting on the possibility.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the market for whether or not Maduro would be out of power climbed on Saturday morning after hovering in the low single digits for weeks. A newly created account on Polymarket appeared to invest $30,000 on Friday — betting in favour of an ouster. The unknown investor netted a cool $436,759.61 after Maduro was taken into custody on Saturday morning.
Eagle-eyed investor also noticed a second weeks-old account bet ‘yes’ on the ouster of Maduro by the end of January merely three hours before the attack. Social media users suggested the account had printed $170,000.
‘It was probably Trump’
Many on the internet suggested that the bets had been placed by a “Trump insider” with knowledge about the upcoming strikes. Others insisted that it was the president himself — or one of his sons — who had emerged more than $400,000 richer amid the attack against Venezuela.
“A trump insider has just made $500K on Polymarket. This random account that started buying just a few hours before Trump started attacking on Venezuela. With only 4 predictions, he turned his $30,000 into half a million dollars. It’s pretty obvious he is from the trump office milking Polymarket for quick money,” concluded one X user.
“I mean it was probably Trump himself,” came the response.
“It’s possible that these were military personnel who took part in the operation,” suggested a third.
What is happening in Venezuela?
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was removed unceremoniously from his home on Saturday and taken out of the country by the US military. Visuals shared online showed the world leader handcuffed and blindfolded for much of the journey — before he was taken to a New York detention centre.
The developments came even as the Venezuelan Supreme Court has reportedly ordered Vice President Delcy Rodriguez to assume the powers and duties of an acting president. Justice Tania D’Amelio announced the order during a session broadcast by the state television channel VTV. The court concluded that ousted President Nicolas Maduro was presently in a “material and temporary impossibility to exercise his functions”.