US Army Green Beret Arrested for Allegedly Betting on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has arrested a US Army Master Sergeant for allegedly using classified information to place bets on a military operation in Venezuela. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, is accused of using his knowledge of the forthcoming raid to place $33,000 in bets, resulting in winnings of approximately $400,000. The indictment alleges that Van Dyke 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. Van Dyke is charged with the unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, and fraud. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint in federal court. According to the indictment, Van Dyke was involved in the planning and execution of the military operation to detain former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. After the raid, Van Dyke allegedly withdrew his winnings, converted them to a cryptocurrency, and moved them into a brokerage account. The US Attorney's office stated that Van Dyke's actions constituted 'clear insider trading' and endangered US national security. The case has drawn comments from US President Donald Trump, who expressed his disapproval of betting on sensitive information, and from Polymarket, which stated that it had cooperated with the DOJ investigation.