US Army Green Beret Arrested for Allegedly Betting on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has arrested a high-ranking Army official for allegedly using classified information to place wagers on a military operation in Venezuela. Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke, an active duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, is accused of participating in the planning and execution of the operation to detain former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, while also placing bets on the outcome. Van Dyke allegedly created an account on the betting platform Polymarket and placed 13 bets between December 26, 2025, and January 2, 2026, winning around $400,000. The indictment alleges that Van Dyke used his knowledge of the forthcoming raid to inform his bets, and that he attempted to conceal his identity by asking Polymarket to delete his account and changing his email address. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint against Van Dyke. The case has drawn comment from US President Donald Trump, who expressed his disapproval of betting on sensitive information, and from the betting platform Polymarket, which stated that it had identified Van Dyke's suspicious activity and referred the matter to the Department of Justice.