A Bet Gone Wrong: Insider Trading on a Global Stage
A U.S. Army Master Sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, has been arrested and charged with multiple felonies for allegedly leveraging classified information to secure over $400,000 in profits on the prediction market platform Polymarket. The charges, unsealed Thursday in the Southern District of New York, include unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and engaging in monetary transactions from unlawful activity. Van Dyke, 38, was an active-duty Special Forces soldier stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and was directly involved in the planning and execution of the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Prosecutors allege that Van Dyke began placing bets on Polymarket shortly after signing a nondisclosure agreement for "Western Hemisphere Operations" on December 8, 2025. Between late December and early January, he allegedly made approximately 13 bets related to American forces invading Venezuela and the timing of Maduro's removal from office. His initial wager of over $33,000 on Maduro being "out by January 31, 2026," placed just hours before President Trump announced Maduro's capture on January 3, 2026, yielded winnings exceeding $409,000.