A U.S. special forces soldier who took part in the military operation that led to the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been arrested. Authorities say he used classified information to place bets on the outcome before it was publicly known.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Gannon Ken Van Dyke, an active-duty Army soldier stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with insider trading. According to officials, Van Dyke made trades on Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based prediction market, based on sensitive nonpublic information.
“This is clear insider trading and is illegal under federal law,” DOJ officials stated.
Van Dyke allegedly won more than $409,000 from his bets. The operation, dubbed “Operation Absolute Resolve,” took place on January 3, when U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their Caracas compound in a nighttime raid. The couple was flown to New York to face weapons and drug charges, which they deny.
The DOJ alleges that on or around December 26, 2025, Van Dyke created a Polymarket account and began trading on markets related to Maduro and Venezuela. He is accused of placing over $33,000 in bets while possessing classified details about the upcoming operation.
Polymarket stated on social media that it identified the user trading on classified government information, referred the matter to the DOJ, and cooperated with the investigation. “Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today’s arrest is proof the system works,” the company said.
According to an indictment unsealed Thursday, Van Dyke faces charges including unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche emphasized that military personnel are trusted with classified information solely to carry out their missions safely and effectively, and are prohibited from using it for financial gain. “Widespread access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, but federal laws protecting national security information fully apply,” he said.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York added that prediction markets “are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain.”
Prosecutors noted that Van Dyke signed nondisclosure agreements as a soldier, promising never to divulge classified or sensitive information related to military operations. Federal prosecutors allege that from December 8, 2025, through at least January 6, 2026, Van Dyke was involved in planning and executing Operation Absolute Resolve and had access to sensitive, nonpublic information about it.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has also filed a complaint against Van Dyke for insider trading.
When asked about the case at an unrelated event Thursday, President Donald Trump said he had not heard of it but would look into it. Expressing broader concerns about prediction markets leading to insider trading, Trump said, “The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino… I was never much in favor of it.”
