US Arrests Green Beret Over Alleged $400,000 Bets on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has taken a master sergeant from the US Army into custody, alleging that he used confidential government information for personal gain by betting on the outcome of a military operation in Venezuela. The sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, allegedly participated in the operation to apprehend former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and then placed bets worth $33,000 on the event, ultimately winning around $400,000. 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, which is a clear case of insider trading and is against federal law.' Van Dyke allegedly created an account on the betting platform Polymarket in late December 2025 and placed multiple bets on contracts related to the US military's actions in Venezuela through early January 2026. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing a complaint against Van Dyke for insider trading. The agency's chairman, Mike Selig, stated, 'The defendant was entrusted with confidential information about US operations and yet took actions that endangered US national security and put the lives of American service members at risk.' As an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, Van Dyke was involved in the planning and execution of the operation to detain Maduro. After the raid, Van Dyke allegedly withdrew his winnings, converted them to a stablecoin, and then transferred the funds to a brokerage account. The filing notes that Van Dyke's large profits from these bets had been noticed by news organizations and that he attempted to conceal his identity by asking Polymarket to delete his account and changing his email address. In response to the allegations, Polymarket stated that it had identified the user trading on classified government information and had referred the matter to the DOJ, cooperating with their investigation. US President Donald Trump commented on the matter, stating that he would look into allegations of federal reporters placing bets using confidential information, and expressed his disapproval of the concept of betting on such events.