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 confidential government information to place wagers on a raid in Venezuela. Gannon Ken Van Dyke is accused of unlawfully using sensitive information for personal gain, theft of non-public government information, and fraud. According to the indictment, Van Dyke used his knowledge of the forthcoming raid to place $33,000 in bets on Polymarket, winning approximately $400,000. The US Attorney's office stated that Van Dyke's actions constituted clear insider trading and violated federal law. Van Dyke allegedly created a Polymarket account and placed 13 bets between December 26, 2025, and January 2, 2026, on contracts related to the US military operation in Venezuela. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint in federal court. The CFTC Chairman stated that Van Dyke's actions endangered US national security and put the lives of American service members at risk. Van Dyke is an active-duty soldier with the US Army Special Forces and was involved in the planning and execution of the military operation to detain former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. After the raid, Van Dyke allegedly withdrew the funds, converted them to a bridged version of USDC, and moved them into a brokerage account. The filing noted that Van Dyke attempted to conceal his identity by asking Polymarket to delete his account and changing his email address. Polymarket cooperated with the DOJ investigation and referred the matter to them after identifying a user trading on classified government information. US President Donald Trump commented on the allegations, stating that he would look into the matter and expressed his disapproval of betting using confidential information.