US Arrests Army Green Beret Over Alleged $400,000 Bets on Venezuela Raid

The US Department of Justice has arrested a high-ranking Army official for allegedly using classified information to place bets 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 using his knowledge of the impending raid to place $33,000 in bets, which yielded approximately $400,000 in winnings. The DOJ has charged Van Dyke 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 on contracts related to the US military operation in Venezuela. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is also pursuing an insider trading complaint against Van Dyke, alleging that he endangered US national security and put the lives of American service members at risk. Van Dyke allegedly attempted to conceal his identity and activities by withdrawing his winnings, converting them to cryptocurrency, and moving them into a brokerage account. The case has drawn attention from US President Donald Trump, who expressed disapproval of the use of confidential information for betting purposes.