US Army Green Beret Arrested for Allegedly Betting on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has arrested a master sergeant in the Army for allegedly using confidential government information to place bets on a raid in Venezuela, in which he was involved. The indictment, unsealed on Thursday, charges Gannon Ken Van Dyke with unlawfully using government information for personal gain, theft of non-public information, and fraud. According to the charges, Van Dyke used his knowledge of the impending raid to place $33,000 in bets on Polymarket, winning around $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 in December 2025 and placed 13 bets between then and January 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, with Chairman Mike Selig stating that the defendant '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 operation to detain Maduro. After the raid, he allegedly withdrew his winnings, converted them to a cryptocurrency, and moved them into a brokerage account. The filing notes that Van Dyke attempted to conceal his identity by asking Polymarket to delete his account and changing his email address. Polymarket stated that it had identified Van Dyke's suspicious activity and referred the matter to the DOJ, cooperating with the investigation. US President Donald Trump commented on the allegations, stating that he would look into reports of federal reporters placing bets using confidential information, and expressed his disapproval of the concept of prediction market betting.