US Army Green Beret Arrested for Allegedly Betting on Venezuela Raid

A US Army master sergeant has been arrested and charged with unlawfully using confidential government information for personal gain, theft, and fraud, after allegedly placing bets on a raid in Venezuela using classified information. The sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, is accused of using his knowledge of the forthcoming raid to place $33,000 in bets on Polymarket, winning around $400,000. 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 US operation in Venezuela. 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, was involved in the planning and execution of the military operation to detain Maduro. After the raid, Van Dyke allegedly withdrew the funds, converted them to cryptocurrency, and moved them into a brokerage account. The case has drawn attention from US President Donald Trump, who expressed his disapproval of the use of confidential information for betting purposes.