WASHINGTON (AP) — A US special forces soldier involved in the American military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been charged with using classified information about the mission to win more than $400,000 in an online betting market, federal officials announced Thursday.

Gannon Ken Van Dyke used his access to classified information to make money on the prediction market site Polymarket, the federal prosecutor’s office in New York said.

The US Justice Department has charged him 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. He could face years in prison.

Van Dyke, 38, was involved in the planning and execution of capturing Maduro for about a month beginning December 8, 2025, according to the federal prosecutor’s office.

Even though he signed nondisclosure agreements promising not to divulge “any classified or sensitive information” related to the operations, prosecutors say the army soldier used this information to place a series of bets related to Maduro being out of power by January 31, 2026.

“This involved a US soldier who allegedly took advantage of his position to profit from a righteous military operation,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on social media.

A telephone number listed for Van Dyke in public records was not in service and there is as yet no attorney listed for him in court documents.

Polymarket, one of the largest prediction markets in the world, said it had found someone trading on classified government information, alerted the US Department of Justice and “cooperated with their investigation.”

“Insider trading has no place on Polymarket,” the company said in a statement.

Second complaint filed against the soldier

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the US federal agency that regulates prediction markets, announced Thursday it had filed a parallel complaint against Van........

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