US Army Green Beret Arrested for Allegedly Betting on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has arrested a master sergeant in the Army, accusing him of using classified information to place wagers on a military operation in Venezuela. The sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, allegedly placed $33,000 in bets on the raid, which resulted in the detention of former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, and won approximately $400,000. Van Dyke is accused of unlawfully using government information for personal gain, theft of non-public government information, and fraud. According to the indictment, Van Dyke created a Polymarket account in December 2025 and placed 13 bets between December 26, 2025, and January 2, 2026, on contracts related to the potential US military operation in Venezuela. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint against Van Dyke. The agency alleges that Van Dyke's actions endangered US national security and put the lives of American service members at risk. Van Dyke is an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, also known as the 'green berets,' and was involved in the planning and execution of the military operation. After the raid, Van Dyke allegedly withdrew his winnings, converted them to a cryptocurrency, and moved the funds into a brokerage account. The investigation into Van Dyke's activities began after news organizations noticed that someone had made a significant profit on Polymarket bets related to the Venezuela raid. Van Dyke allegedly 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 the use of confidential information for betting purposes, stating that the world has become 'somewhat of a casino.'