US Authorities Arrest Army Green Beret for Allegedly Betting on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has arrested a master sergeant in the Army, alleging that he used confidential government information to place bets on a raid in Venezuela, which resulted in the detention of former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. The indictment, unsealed on Thursday, charges Gannon Ken Van Dyke with unlawfully using confidential government information for personal gain, theft of non-public government information, and fraud. According to the charges, Van Dyke used his knowledge of the impending raid to place $33,000 in bets, which yielded a profit of approximately $400,000. US Attorney Jay Clayton stated that Van Dyke's actions constitute 'clear insider trading and are illegal under federal law.' Van Dyke allegedly created a Polymarket account and placed 13 bets between December 26, 2025, and January 2, 2026, 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. The CFTC Chairman, Mike Selig, noted that Van Dyke's actions 'endangered US national security and put the lives of American service members in harm's way.' Van Dyke, an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, was involved in the planning and execution of the military operation to detain Maduro. After the raid, Van Dyke allegedly withdrew his winnings, converted them to a cryptocurrency, and transferred the funds to a brokerage account. The investigation revealed that Van Dyke attempted to conceal his identity by asking Polymarket to delete his account and changing his email address. Polymarket cooperated with the investigation, stating that they had referred the matter to the DOJ after identifying a user trading on classified government information. In response to the allegations, US President Donald Trump expressed his disapproval of using confidential information for betting purposes, stating that 'the whole world has become somewhat of a casino.'