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

A US Army Master Sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, has been arrested by the Department of Justice for allegedly using classified information to place bets on a military operation in Venezuela, resulting in winnings of approximately $400,000. The indictment, unsealed on Thursday, charges Van Dyke with unlawfully using confidential government information for personal gain, theft of non-public government information, and fraud. Van Dyke, an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, also known as the 'green berets', allegedly created a Polymarket account and placed 13 bets between December 26, 2025, and January 2, 2026, on contracts related to the US military operation in Venezuela. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is also pursuing an insider trading complaint in federal court. According to the CFTC Chairman, Van Dyke's 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 bridged version of USDC, and transferred the funds to a foreign cryptocurrency 'vault' before moving 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. The incident has sparked comments from US President Donald Trump, who expressed his disapproval of betting using confidential information, stating that 'the whole world has become somewhat of a casino'.