A US Army Special Forces master sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, has been arrested for allegedly using classified information to place bets on the prediction marketplace Polymarket. His actions reportedly earned him profits exceeding $409,881 related to the capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
Van Dyke is accused of making a total of $33,034 in bets between December 27, 2025, and January 2, 2026, on various outcomes concerning US military actions in Venezuela. These included wagers on whether US forces would capture Maduro by January 31, 2026. The soldier withdrew his winnings on the day Maduro and his wife were captured, January 3, and transferred the funds to a foreign crypto vault.
Following the investigation, the Justice Department outlined charges against Van Dyke, which include three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, each carrying a maximum sentence of ten years. Additionally, he faces a wire fraud charge with a potential twenty-year penalty and another charge related to unlawful monetary transactions.
This incident highlights ongoing concerns regarding insider trading in prediction marketplaces, with recent cases including actions taken against political candidates by Kalshi for similar violations.