US Army Green Beret Arrested for Allegedly Betting on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has arrested a US Army Master Sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, for allegedly using confidential government information to place bets on a raid in Venezuela. Van Dyke, an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, is accused of creating a Polymarket account and placing 13 bets on contracts related to the raid, including whether US forces would land in Venezuela and remove Nicolas Maduro. The bets, which were placed between December 26, 2025, and January 2, 2026, allegedly earned Van Dyke around $400,000. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint against Van Dyke, who allegedly attempted to conceal his identity and delete his Polymarket account after the raid. The case has drawn comments from US President Donald Trump, who expressed his disapproval of prediction market bets using confidential information, as well as from the CFTC Chairman, who stated that Van Dyke's actions endangered US national security and put American lives at risk.