US Arrests Green Beret for Allegedly Betting on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has taken a master sergeant from the US Army into custody, alleging that he used sensitive government information to place wagers on a military operation in Venezuela. The operation, which aimed to apprehend former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, was compromised when the master sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, allegedly used his knowledge to place $33,000 in bets, resulting in winnings of 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, all for personal gain.' Van Dyke, an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, also known as the 'green berets,' allegedly created a Polymarket account and placed 13 bets between December 26, 2025, and January 2, 2026, on contracts related to the US military's actions in Venezuela. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint against Van Dyke, stating that his actions endangered US national security and put American service members' lives at risk. Following the raid, Van Dyke allegedly withdrew his winnings, converted them to a cryptocurrency, and transferred the funds to a brokerage account. The incident was discovered after news organizations noticed the large profit made from the bets, and Van Dyke attempted to conceal his identity by asking Polymarket to delete his account and changing his email address. In response to the allegations, US President Donald Trump expressed his disapproval of using confidential information for betting purposes, stating that the world has become 'a casino' and that he does not conceptually favor such activities.