US Authorities Arrest Green Beret for Allegedly Betting on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has taken a Master Sergeant from the Army into custody, accusing him of misusing confidential government information for personal financial gain, theft of non-public government data, and fraud. The sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, allegedly used his prior knowledge of an impending military operation in Venezuela to place $33,000 in wagers, resulting in winnings of approximately $400,000 after the operation. According to US Attorney Jay Clayton, 'The defendant allegedly breached the trust the US Government had placed in him by utilizing classified information about a sensitive military operation to place bets on the operation's timing and outcome, all for the purpose of making a profit. This is a clear case of insider trading, which is prohibited under federal law.' Van Dyke allegedly created a Polymarket account on December 26, 2025, and between then and January 2, 2026, he placed 13 bets on contracts related to whether US forces would land in Venezuela, remove Maduro, or invade the country. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint in federal court, stating that 'the defendant was entrusted with confidential information about US operations and yet took action that endangered US national security and put the lives of American service members in harm's way,' according to CFTC Chairman Mike Selig. Van Dyke, an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, also known as the 'green berets,' was based at Fort Bragg and was involved in the planning and execution of the operation to detain Maduro. Following the raid, Van Dyke allegedly withdrew his winnings, converted them to a bridged version of USDC, and then sent them to a foreign cryptocurrency 'vault' before moving the funds into a brokerage account. The filing notes that the significant profit made from these bets had been noticed by news organizations, and it is alleged that Van Dyke asked Polymarket to delete his account and changed his email in an attempt to conceal his identity. In response, Polymarket stated on X (formerly Twitter) that 'when we identified a user trading on classified government information, we referred the matter to the DOJ and cooperated with their investigation.' US President Donald Trump expressed his disapproval of the situation, stating that he would investigate allegations of federal reporters placing prediction market bets using confidential information.