NEW YORK — A U.S. Army special forces soldier who helped plan and execute the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is accused of using classified information to place bets on Polymarket, a prediction marketplace, netting more than $400,000 in winnings, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.
According to a news release from the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, a Manhattan grand jury indicted Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, who was stationed at Fort Bragg just west of Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The indictment unsealed on Thursday charged Van Dyke 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.
Breaking News: A U.S. soldier who helped capture Nicolás Maduro has been charged with using classified information to bet on the mission on Polymarket. https://t.co/OywGPbNQBV
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 23, 2026
According to the indictment, Van Dyke placed 13 bets totaling $33,034 on Polymarket from Dec. 27, 2025, through the evening of Jan. 2, 2026. The bets took the “Yes” position on several bets that predicted the U.S. would either capture or remove Maduro from office or invade Venezuela before Jan. 31, 2026.
The bets came days before U.S. forces raided a compound in Caracas on Jan. 3 to capture Maduro, The New York Times reported.
After President Donald Trump announced Maduro’s capture, Van Dyke’s wagers gave him a hefty payday of $409,881, prosecutors said.
The case is believed to be the first time the Department of Justice has prosecuted an insider trading case based on prediction market betting, The Washington Post reported. Companies that run prediction markets have come under increased scrutiny in recent months, with both houses of Congress contemplating legislation to limit government officials’ use of one site, Kalshi, according to the Times.
“Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement. “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.
“That is clear insider trading and is illegal under federal law. Those entrusted to safeguard our nation’s secrets have a duty to protect them and our armed service members, and not to use that information for personal financial gain.”
The Post, citing data from Polymarket, reported that an anonymous trader began placing small bets predicting U.S. military intervention in Venezuela. The first bet was for $96 on Dec. 27, and the trader upped the stakes as the date of the raid in Venezuela drew closer. The final wager was placed at 9:58 p.m. ET on Jan. 2, hours before U.S. troops deposed Maduro.
Prosecutors alleged that Van Dyke sent most of the proceeds from his betting wins to a foreign cryptocurrency account before depositing the funds into a newly created online brokerage account. On the day of the operation, Van Dyke allegedly withdrew the funds from his Polymarket account; three days after Maduro’s capture, he allegedly asked Polymarket to delete his account.
According to the Post, Van Dyke enlisted in the military in 2008 and was promoted to his current rank in 2023. He was detained in Fayetteville on Thursday and will face preliminary court proceedings before traveling to New York City, according to the newspaper.
Trump, when asked on Thursday about government employees using prediction markets, told reporters that “The whole world unfortunately has become somewhat of a casino.”
“I was never much in favor of it. I don’t like it conceptually. It is what it is,” he said. “I’m not happy with any of that stuff.”
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