Polymarket Insider Trading Scandal: How a Special Forces Soldier Used Classified Intel to Net $400,000

The soldier bet on multiple Venezuela-related markets shortly before the United States captured Nicolas Maduro.

BY MOSES JEANFRANCOIS, NEWS WRITER @MOSESJEANS

A U.S. Special Forces soldier involved in the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro used classified information to win over $400,000 on Polymarket. The incident highlights a growing risk for the still-nascent prediction market business.

Federal officials announced Thursday that Gannon Ken Van Dyke will be 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. According to the indictment, Van Dyke was involved in the planning and execution of Operation Absolute Resolve, the military operation that captured the Venezuelan president, starting around December 8, 2025. 

“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,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Widespread access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, but federal laws protecting national security information fully apply.” 

The indictment alleges that Van Dyke created a Polymarket account around December 26, 2025, funded it, and began trading on Maduro- and Venezuela-related markets. The soldier is said to have made approximately 13 bets from December 27, 2025, through the evening of January 26 with the “Yes” position. 

Vibe-Coding for Beginners in Five Easy Steps

The 38-year-old native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, is currently being charged with three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; alongside other charges, Van Dyke could be looking at a maximum potential sentence of 50 years. 

The indictment noted that Van Dyke sent most of the proceeds he won to a foreign cryptocurrency vault before depositing them into a newly created online brokerage account. 

In a statement on Thursday on social media, Polymarket stated that it had published new rules to tighten insider trading last month. “When we identified a user trading on classified government information, we referred the matter to the DOJ & cooperated with their investigation.”

© Inc.com