The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday announced the arrest and indictment of Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a 38-year-old active-duty U.S. Army soldier stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Van Dyke, who participated in the planning and execution of the U.S. military operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, is accused of using classified information relating to the operation to place bets on Polymarket, a prediction marketplace. His bet netted approximately $409,881 in profits, prosecutors said.
According to the indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York, Van Dyke had access to sensitive, nonpublic classified details about “Operation Absolute Resolve” beginning around December 8, 2025, through at least January 6, 2026. He had signed nondisclosure agreements pledging not to divulge any classified or sensitive information relating to military operations.
The operation culminated in the predawn hours of January 3, 2026, when U.S. special forces apprehended Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at a residence in Caracas, Venezuela. President Donald Trump announced the successful capture hours later.
Polymarket offered binary event contracts on outcomes involving Venezuela and Maduro, including whether U.S. forces would be in Venezuela by January 31, 2026; whether Maduro would be “out” by that date; whether the U.S. would invade Venezuela by January 31, 2026; and whether President Trump would invoke war powers against Venezuela by that date.
The indictment alleges that on or about December 26, 2025, Van Dyke created a Polymarket account and, between December 27, 2025, and the evening of January 2, 2026, placed approximately 13 bets totaling roughly $33,034 — all taking the “YES” position on the listed contracts. These wagers were made while he possessed classified information about the impending operation.
After the public announcement and resolution of the contracts in favor of “YES,” Van Dyke’s positions yielded the reported profit.
Van Dyke is charged with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud, and one count of making an unlawful monetary transaction. The maximum penalties are 10 years in prison for each commodities violation and the monetary transaction count, and 20 years for wire fraud.
Following the trades, Van Dyke allegedly transferred most of the proceeds to a foreign cryptocurrency vault and then to a new online brokerage account. He also took steps to conceal his involvement, including requesting that Polymarket delete his account on January 6, 2026, while claiming loss of access to the associated email
He also changed the email on his cryptocurrency exchange account to one created under a different name, prosecutors said.
“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 U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said after the charges were announced.
“Widespread access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, but federal laws protecting national security information fully apply.”
