A U.S. Army Special Forces master sergeant was arrested Thursday for using classified military intelligence to place winning bets on a prediction market just days before an elite raid captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, pocketing over $400,000 in the process.
Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, was stationed at Fort Bragg and directly involved in the planning and execution of Operation Absolute Resolve, the covert January 3 raid on Maduro’s compound in Caracas. Prosecutors say Van Dyke had access to sensitive, nonpublic, classified information about the operation and exploited it for personal gain.
Starting around December 27, Van Dyke allegedly used a VPN to mask his identity and opened a Polymarket account that appeared to originate from a foreign country. Over the following week he placed roughly $33,000 in wagers on binary outcomes tied to Maduro and U.S. military action in Venezuela, betting that U.S. forces would be active in Venezuela by January 31 and that Maduro would be out by that same date.
He dropped $26,000 of that total on the morning of January 2, hours before the pre-dawn raid. Seven U.S. service members were injured during the operation.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton didn’t mince words. “Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain,” Clayton said in a statement. He called it clear insider trading and said Van Dyke violated the trust placed in him by the government to profit off a mission he was helping plan.
Van Dyke cashed out shortly after the raid and transferred the funds into a foreign cryptocurrency vault, according to the indictment. Investigators found a brokerage account Tuesday containing approximately $415,000 traceable to the Polymarket trades.
He was charged with three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud, and one count of an unlawful monetary transaction. He faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the arrest makes clear no one is above the law. “Any clearance holders thinking of cashing in their access and knowledge for personal gain will be held accountable,” Patel warned.
Acting AG Todd Blanche noted that while widespread access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, federal laws protecting national security information fully apply.
Van Dyke had signed nondisclosure agreements related to Western Hemisphere Operations being planned at Fort Bragg, promising never to divulge, publish, or reveal any classified or sensitive information. An hour after Trump announced Maduro’s capture, prosecutors say a photo of Van Dyke in military fatigues holding a rifle on what appeared to be a ship at sea was uploaded to his Google account.
