U.S. soldier accused of using classified Maduro raid information to bet on Polymarket
A U.S. Army soldier who helped plan and carry out the military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been charged with using classified information to place bets on the operation through prediction platform Polymarket, according to federal prosecutors. He made more than $400,000 in profit.
The indictment was unsealed Thursday in Manhattan federal court against Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, who is an active-duty soldier stationed at Fort Bragg. He was expected to make his first court appearance in the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Federal prosecutors said Van Dyke was involved in the planning and execution of Operation Absolute Resolve, the U.S. military operation to capture Maduro, from about December 8, 2025, through at least January 6, 2026. Through that role, prosecutors said, he had access to sensitive, nonpublic and classified information about the operation.
Van Dyke had signed nondisclosure agreements promising not to reveal classified or sensitive information related to military operations, according to prosecutors. He is accused of using that access to trade on Polymarket, a prediction marketplace where users can wager on the outcome of future events.
Prosecutors said Van Dyke created a Polymarket account on or about December 26 and began placing bets the next day on markets tied to Venezuela and Maduro.
The markets included whether U.S. forces would enter Venezuela by January 31, whether Maduro would be out of power by that date, whether the U.S. would invade Venezuela, and whether President Trump would invoke war powers against Venezuela.
In all, Van Dyke placed about 13 bets from December 27 through the evening of January 2, putting about $33,034 on outcomes that would pay out if U.S. action in Venezuela happened within the stated time frame, according to the indictment.
In the predawn hours of January 3, U.S. special forces apprehended Maduro and his wife at a residence in Caracas, Venezuela. Hours later, Trump announced the operation, and several Polymarket contracts tied to Maduro and U.S. forces in Venezuela resolved in favor of Van Dyke’s bets.
Prosecutors said Van Dyke made about $409,881 in profit. Most of the proceeds were later sent to a foreign cryptocurrency vault before being deposited into a newly created online brokerage account.
Prosecutors said Van Dyke then took steps to conceal his identity as the trader, including asking Polymarket to delete his account on January 6 while falsely claiming he had lost access to the email address linked to it.
Van Dyke is charged with three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud and one count of an unlawful monetary transaction. The most serious charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
“Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said. “The defendant allegedly violated the trust placed in him by the United States Government by using classified information about a sensitive military operation to place bets on the timing and outcome of that very operation, all to turn a profit.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
