A United States Army Special Forces master sergeant has been arrested and charged with insider trading after allegedly using classified military intelligence to bet on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, netting more than $400,000 in profit on a prediction market platform.
The Department of Justice identified the soldier as Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, who was involved in the planning and execution of Operation Absolute Resolve, the covert mission that apprehended Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas in early January 2026.
Van Dyke allegedly created a Polymarket account on December 26, 2025 and placed 13 bets through January 2, 2026, wagering a total of approximately $33,000 on contracts predicting that United States forces would land in Venezuela, remove Maduro from power, or invade the country by January 31. The bets were long-shot wagers at the time of placement, but yielded a return of more than twelve times the amount staked.
When news outlets reported unusual trading activity in Maduro-related contracts on Polymarket, Van Dyke allegedly attempted to cover his tracks by trying to delete his Polymarket account and changing the email address linked to his cryptocurrency exchange account. He also allegedly sent most of his winnings to a foreign cryptocurrency vault before depositing them into a newly created online brokerage account.
This is the first time the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed charges of insider trading in connection with prediction market event contracts. Van Dyke faces multiple criminal counts in the Southern District of New York, including unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information and fraud.
US Attorney Jay Clayton said: “Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain. Those entrusted to safeguard our nation’s secrets have a duty to protect them and not to use that information for personal financial gain.”
Polymarket said it had identified the suspicious trading and referred the matter to the Department of Justice, cooperating fully with the investigation. “Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today’s arrest is proof the system works,” the company said.
Maduro, who was brought to New York to face federal drug-trafficking charges following his capture, has pleaded not guilty. Van Dyke is scheduled to appear in court in North Carolina.
