Soldier in Maduro raid charged over prediction market bets on operation: DOJ

A U.S. Army soldier has been accused of using classified information about the military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to place bets on the prediction market Polymarket, federal officials said Thursday.

Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a soldier stationed at Fort Bragg who was involved in the planning of the operation, was charged with using confidential government information for personal gain. He allegedly made more than $400,000 in profits from the wagers.

“Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain,” Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.

“The defendant allegedly violated the trust placed in him by the United States Government by using classified information about a sensitive military operation to place bets on the timing and outcome of that very operation, all to turn a profit,” he continued.

“That is clear insider trading and is illegal under federal law,” Clayton added. “Those entrusted to safeguard our nation’s secrets have a duty to protect them and our armed service members, and not to use that information for personal financial gain.”

Van Dyke allegedly created an account on Polymarket on Dec. 26 and placed about $33,000 worth of bets on markets about U.S. operations in Venezuela and Maduro’s ouster between Dec. 27 and Jan. 2. The U.S. launched the operation in Venezuela early on Jan. 3, capturing Maduro and his wife.

The U.S. attorney’s office also accused Van Dyke of attempting to conceal his identity as the trades drew widespread scrutiny. He allegedly asked Polymarket to delete his account on Jan. 6, claiming he had lost access to the associated email account, and changed the email registered to the crypto account where he sent his profits.

Van Dyke is facing three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Account, one count of wire fraud and one count of an unlawful money transaction.

“Last month, we published our enhanced market integrity rules to combat insider trading,” Polymarket said in a post on X.

“When we 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. Today’s arrest is proof the system works.”

The suspicious trades on the Maduro operation were the first in a series of well-timed bets that have raised concerns about insider trading, particularly on prediction markets, in recent months.

In the face of heightened scrutiny, both Polymarket and Kalshi rolled out additional restrictions on insider trading last month.

Polymarket sought to clarify what counts as prohibited insider trading, noting that users are barred from trading on stolen confidential information and illegal tips or if they can influence the outcome.

Kalshi also launched “new technological guardrails” to block politicians, athletes and other relevant people trading in certain markets. It announced Wednesday that it had suspended three political candidates who bet on their own races.

Updated at 6:35 p.m. EDT

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