US Authorities Arrest 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 sensitive government information to place wagers on a military operation aimed at capturing Nicolas Maduro, the former leader of Venezuela. The sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, is said to have made around $400,000 from these bets, which were placed using his knowledge of the impending raid. According to the indictment, Van Dyke created an account on a betting platform called Polymarket and made 13 bets between December 26, 2025, and January 2, 2026, on the likelihood of US forces landing in Venezuela, removing Maduro, and other related events. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint against Van Dyke, stating that his actions compromised US national security and put the lives of American service members at risk. Van Dyke, an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, was involved in planning and executing the military operation to detain Maduro. After the raid, he allegedly withdrew his winnings, converted them to a cryptocurrency, and transferred them to a brokerage account. The case came to light after news organizations noticed that someone had made significant profits from these bets, and Van Dyke attempted to conceal his identity by asking Polymarket to delete his account and changing his email address. The US President has also commented on the issue, expressing his disapproval of the use of confidential information for betting purposes.