US Authorities Arrest Army Green Beret Over Alleged $400,000 Bet on Venezuela Raid

A US Army master sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, has been arrested and charged with unlawfully using confidential government information for personal gain. The allegations stem from his involvement in a military operation to detain former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, during which he allegedly placed $33,000 in bets on the outcome, ultimately winning around $400,000. Van Dyke is said to have used a Polymarket account to place these bets, which were made between December 26, 2025, and January 2, 2026. The US Department of Justice has unsealed an indictment against Van Dyke, who is an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, commonly known as the 'green berets.' The indictment accuses Van Dyke of violating the trust placed in him by the US government by using classified information about a sensitive military operation for personal financial gain. Following the raid, Van Dyke allegedly attempted to conceal his identity and the source of his winnings by withdrawing the funds, converting them to a bridged version of USDC, and transferring them to a foreign cryptocurrency 'vault' and then to a brokerage account. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint against Van Dyke. The case has drawn attention to the issue of insider trading and the use of confidential information for personal gain, with US Attorney Jay Clayton stating that Van Dyke's actions constitute 'clear insider trading' and are illegal under federal law.