US Authorities Arrest Green Beret for Allegedly Betting on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has arrested a master sergeant in the US Army, accusing him of misusing confidential government information for personal gain by betting on a raid in Venezuela. The sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, allegedly used his knowledge of the impending operation to place bets worth $33,000, which yielded a profit of approximately $400,000. According to US Attorney Jay Clayton, 'the defendant allegedly breached the trust placed in him by the US government by using classified information about a sensitive military operation to place bets, which is a clear case of insider trading and a federal offense.' Van Dyke, an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, created a Polymarket account in late December 2025 and made 13 bets on contracts related to the US operation 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. After the raid, Van Dyke allegedly withdrew his winnings, converted them to a cryptocurrency, and moved the funds into a brokerage account. The incident was noticed by news organizations, and Van Dyke attempted to conceal his identity by asking Polymarket to delete his account and changing his email address. Polymarket has since cooperated with the DOJ investigation, stating that they referred the matter to the authorities upon identifying a user trading on classified government information. US President Donald Trump has also commented on the issue, expressing his disapproval of betting using confidential information and stating that the world has become 'somewhat of a casino.'