US Army Green Beret Arrested for Allegedly Betting on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has arrested a master sergeant in the Army on charges of unlawfully using confidential government information for personal gain. Gannon Ken Van Dyke allegedly used his knowledge of an impending raid on Venezuela to place bets worth $33,000, which resulted in winnings of approximately $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 potential US military 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 operation to detain former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. After the raid, Van Dyke allegedly withdrew his winnings, converted them to a cryptocurrency, and transferred the funds to a brokerage account. The filing claims that Van Dyke attempted to conceal his identity by asking Polymarket to delete his account and changing his email address. Polymarket has stated that it identified the user trading on classified government information and referred the matter to the DOJ, cooperating with their investigation. US President Donald Trump has commented on the allegations, expressing his disapproval of the use of confidential information for betting purposes.