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 bets on a raid in Venezuela, in which he was involved. Gannon Ken Van Dyke allegedly used his knowledge of the impending raid to place $33,000 in bets, which yielded around $400,000 in winnings. According to the indictment, Van Dyke created a Polymarket account and placed 13 bets between December 26, 2025, and January 2, 2026, on contracts related to the potential US invasion of Venezuela and the removal of Nicolas Maduro. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint in federal court. Van Dyke, an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, allegedly attempted to conceal his identity by asking Polymarket to delete his account and changing his email address. The case has drawn attention from US President Donald Trump, who expressed his disapproval of betting using confidential information.