A U.S. Special Forces master sergeant involved in the military operation of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s capture was arrested for allegedly using classified information to place bets on the online prediction market platform, Polymarket.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Gannon Ken Van Dyke “was involved in the planning and execution of Operation Absolute Resolve,” which apprehended Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in early Jan. 2026.
The sergeant placed a total of $33,000 across roughly 13 bets in the week leading up to the capture, using insider knowledge that the U.S. was secretly planning a military campaign against Maduro, according to an unsealed indictment in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Van Dyke’s trades were placed under several usernames, all betting that Maduro would soon be deposed. According to the indictment, Van Dyke won nearly $410,000 from the trades.
The DOJ stated that after receiving his earnings, Van Dyke transferred most of them to a cryptocurrency vault and then deposited them into a new online brokerage account.
The DOJ charged Van Dyke, 38, with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction.
Additionally, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a civil complaint against the Special Forces soldier with three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act.
If convicted, Van Dyke could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for wire fraud and up to 10 years in each of the remaining charges.
“Last month, we published our enhanced market integrity rules to combat insider trading. When we identified a user trading on classified government information, we referred the matter to the DOJ & cooperated with their investigation,” Polymarket said in a statement about Van Dyke’s arrest. “Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today’s arrest is proof the system works.”
