A U.S. Army special forces soldier involved in the operation that captured Nicolás Maduro was indicted Thursday over allegations that he used classified information to bet on the former Venezuelan president’s capture on Polymarket.
Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a 38-year-old from North Carolina, was charged with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud and making an unlawful monetary transaction. The Department of Justice said he “participated in the planning and execution” of what was dubbed “Operation Absolute Resolve.”
“Our men and women in uniform are trusted with classified information in order to accomplish their mission as safely and effectively as possible, and are prohibited from using this highly sensitive information for personal financial gain,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “Widespread access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, but federal laws protecting national security information fully apply.”
Authorities said in Van Dyke’s indictment that he created a Polymarket account around Dec. 26, 2025, and started trading on markets related to Venezuela and Maduro. In the around 13 bets he made, authorities said, Van Dyke took “yes” positions on wagers such as “U.S. Forces in Venezuela . . . by January 31, 2026” and “Maduro out by . . . January 31, 2026.”
Van Dyke bet a total of $33,034 on these outcomes, the Department of Justice said. After President Donald Trump announced that U.S. special forces had apprehended Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on Jan. 3 in Caracas, Polymarket resolved the contracts, and Van Dyke won about $409,881 on his wagers.
According to the DOJ, Van Dyke sent his winnings to a foreign cryptocurrency vault, then put them in a newly created online brokerage account. That same day, Van Dyke allegedly withdrew the majority of his proceeds from his Polymarket account.
Days after Maduro’s arrest, Van Dyke asked Polymarket to delete his account, “falsely claiming” he lost access to the email address it was registered under, the department said.
When news first came out about someone netting thousands on bets about Maduro, it raised concern, including from Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., who responded by introducing the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026 in response to the wagers.
The bill would make it illegal for federal elected officials, political appointees, executive branch employees and congressional staff to knowingly engage in a transaction about government affairs or policy outcomes if they have nonpublic information about it or could “reasonably obtain it” while performing their official duties.
Polymarket said in a statement Thursday that when it identified a user trading on classified government information, “we referred the matter to the DOJ & cooperated with their investigation.”
“Insider trading has no place on Polymarket,” the prediction market said. “Today’s arrest is proof the system works.”
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