US Authorities Arrest Green Beret Over Alleged Insider Trading on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has arrested a master sergeant with the Army's Special Forces, alleging he used classified information about a military operation in Venezuela to place bets and win around $400,000. The sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, allegedly created a Polymarket account and placed 13 bets on contracts related to the US operation to detain former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Van Dyke is accused of unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, and fraud charges. According to the indictment, Van Dyke was involved in the planning and execution of the military operation and used his knowledge to inform his bets. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint in federal court. Van Dyke allegedly attempted to conceal his identity and activities by asking Polymarket to delete his account and changing his email address. The incident has drawn comment from US President Donald Trump, who expressed disapproval of the use of confidential information for betting purposes.