US Army Green Beret Arrested Over $400,000 Bets on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has charged a Master Sergeant with the Army's Special Forces with unlawfully using government secrets for personal gain, theft of non-public information, and fraud. The sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, allegedly used his knowledge of an impending raid on Venezuela to place bets worth $33,000, yielding a profit of approximately $400,000 after the operation. According to US Attorney Jay Clayton, 'The defendant allegedly breached the trust placed in him by the US government by utilizing classified information about a sensitive military operation to place bets on the operation's timing and outcome, all for financial gain.' Van Dyke is accused of creating a Polymarket account and placing 13 bets between December 26, 2025, and January 2, 2026, on contracts related to the potential US invasion of Venezuela and the removal of Maduro. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint against Van Dyke, stating that his actions endangered US national security and put the lives of American service members at risk. After the raid, Van Dyke allegedly withdrew his winnings, converted them to a cryptocurrency, and transferred the funds to a brokerage account. The investigation was initiated after news organizations noticed the large profit made on the Polymarket bets, and it is alleged that Van Dyke 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 using confidential information for betting purposes, stating that 'the whole world has become somewhat of a casino.'