TLDR
- Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke is arrested on charges of using secret military intelligence to bet on Polymarket.
- He bet $33,000 on contracts predicting the raid on Venezuela and Maduro’s ouster, and won nearly $400,000.
- Both the Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have brought charges against him, including wire fraud and theft of government information.
- Van Dyke allegedly tried to cover his tracks by asking Polymarket to delete his account and move the funds to a foreign exchange vault.
- Polymarket said it identified the suspicious transactions and referred the matter to the Ministry of Justice
US Army Staff Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke has been arrested and charged with insider trading after allegedly using classified military information to bet on a prediction market platform.
Van Dyke was part of the Special Forces unit participating in “Operation Absolute Solution,” the January 2026 military operation that led to the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas.
The Justice Department says Van Dyke created a dossier Polymarket account on December 26, 2025. He then placed 13 bets between December 27 and January 2, 2026, the day before the operation began.
The bets included contracts such as “Maduro exits by January 31” and “Trump invokes war powers against Venezuela by January 31.” He reportedly paid $33,000 and walked away with about $409,881 in winnings.
After the raid, Van Dyke allegedly converted his winnings into a hard copy of USDC and sent them to what the Department of Justice described as a “foreign cryptocurrency vault.”
He then moved the funds into a newly created online brokerage account. Prosecutors say this was part of an attempt to distance himself from the money.
Van Dijk also allegedly asked Polymarket to delete his account, claiming he had lost access to the associated email address. He also changed the email associated with his cryptocurrency exchange account.
Fees provided by the Department of Justice and the CFTC
The Justice Department unsealed an indictment Thursday charging Van Dyke with unlawful use of classified government information for personal gain, theft of non-public government information, merchandise fraud, wire fraud, and conducting an illegal cash transaction.
I have been absolutely clear: anyone who engages in insider trading in any of our markets will face the full force of the law. today, @Koftak Parallel actions were taken with @SDNYnews To charge an individual with insider trading including juvenile contracts.
the @Koftak He will not tolerate…
– Mike Selig (@ChairmanSelig) April 23, 2026
The wire fraud charge alone carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a parallel insider trading complaint in federal court on the same day.
CFTC Chairman Michael Selig said Van Dyke’s alleged actions “put US national security at risk and endangered the lives of US service members.”
US Attorney Jay Clayton called the matter “clear insider trading” and “unlawful under federal law.”
Van Dyke signed nondisclosure agreements and promised never to disclose classified or sensitive information related to military operations, according to the Justice Department.
Polymarket cooperated with investigators
Polymarket said in a post on X that it had identified the suspicious trading activity and referred the matter to the Department of Justice.
“Insider trading has no place at Polymarket. Today’s arrest is proof that the system works,” the platform said.
Last month we published our enhanced market integrity rules to combat insider trading.
When we identified a user trading confidential government information, we referred the matter to the Department of Justice and cooperated with its investigation.
Insider trading has no place on Polymarket.
– Polymarket (@Polymarket) April 23, 2026
This is not the first case of its kind involving prediction markets and military personnel. In February 2026, Israeli authorities arrested a military reservist for allegedly using classified information to profit from Polymarket contracts linked to the Israeli strike on Iran.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency “will do everything we can to defend the homeland and protect our nation’s secrets.”
President Donald Trump said he would look into reports that federal employees were making predictive market bets using classified information, adding: “Unfortunately, the whole world has become a bit like a casino.”
