US Army Green Beret Arrested for Allegedly Betting on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has arrested a master sergeant in the Army for allegedly using classified information to place bets on a raid in Venezuela, resulting in winnings of approximately $400,000. Gannon Ken Van Dyke has been charged with unlawfully using confidential government information for personal gain, theft of non-public government information, and fraud. According to the indictment, Van Dyke created a Polymarket account in December 2025 and placed 13 bets between December 2025 and January 2026 on contracts related to the potential US military action in Venezuela. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint against Van Dyke, stating that his actions endangered US national security and put American service members' lives at risk. Van Dyke, an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces, was involved in the planning and execution of the operation to detain former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. After the raid, Van Dyke allegedly withdrew his winnings, converted them to a cryptocurrency, and attempted to conceal his identity by asking Polymarket to delete his account and changing his email address.