US Authorities Arrest Army Green Beret Over Alleged Insider Trading on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has taken a master sergeant from the Army into custody, alleging that he used confidential government information for personal financial gain by betting on the outcome of a military operation in Venezuela. The operation, which aimed to apprehend former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, was allegedly preceded by the master sergeant placing $33,000 in bets, ultimately winning around $400,000. According to US Attorney Jay Clayton, 'The defendant allegedly breached the trust placed in him by the US government by utilizing classified information about a sensitive military operation to place bets on the timing and outcome of that operation, all for the purpose of making a profit. This is a clear case of insider trading and is prohibited under federal law.' The accused, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, is said to have created an account on the betting platform Polymarket in late December 2025 and placed 13 bets between then and early January 2026 on contracts related to the potential US invasion of Venezuela and the removal of Maduro. Van Dyke, an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, was involved in the planning and execution of the military operation. Following the raid, he allegedly withdrew his winnings, converted them to a stablecoin, and transferred the funds to a foreign cryptocurrency 'vault' before moving them into a brokerage account. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint against Van Dyke, with Chairman Mike Selig stating, 'The defendant was entrusted with confidential information about US operations and yet took actions that jeopardized US national security and put the lives of American service members at risk.' The case has drawn attention to the use of prediction markets and the potential risks associated with insider trading. In response to the allegations, US President Donald Trump expressed his disapproval of the practice, stating, 'The whole world has become somewhat of a casino. I was never in favor of it, and I don’t like the concept.'