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A US soldier is said to have earned more than $400,000 on the Polymarket betting platform – by betting on the deposition of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by US forces. The Justice Department announced this on Thursday.
Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, was charged with unauthorized use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud and an improper monetary transaction. According to the unsealed indictment, Van Dyke was involved in planning and executing the operation to capture Maduro – codenamed “Operation Absolute Resolve” – and allegedly used classified information to place bets on the prediction market.
“Our service members are entrusted with classified information so that they can carry out their mission as safely and effectively as possible – and they are expressly prohibited from using this highly sensitive information for personal financial gain,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “Wide access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, but federal laws protecting national security information apply fully.”
FBI chief warns secret service agents
FBI Director Kash Patel warned that anyone “who seeks to monetize their access and knowledge for personal gain will be held accountable.”
Van Dyke is an active duty soldier in the US Army and was stationed at Fort Bragg. He signed nondisclosure agreements pledging that he would “never, by writing, words, conduct or otherwise, disclose any secret or sensitive information” about military operations, according to the indictment. Van Dyke is said to have opened a Polymarket account around December 26, 2025 and began betting on Maduro and Venezuela-related markets. Between December 27, 2025 and the evening of January 26, 2026, he is said to have made around 13 bets.
The indictment accuses Van Dyke of having, with knowledge of secret information, placed a total of around $33,034 on bets in which he took the “YES” position – including on “US forces in Venezuela… by January 31, 2026”, “Maduro deposed by… January 31, 2026”, “Will the USA invade Venezuela by… January 31?” or “Trump declares war powers against Venezuela until…January 31st.”
Profit after Trump’s announcement
A few hours after President Donald Trump announced the arrest of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, Polymarket canceled several Maduro- and Venezuela-related contracts with “YES” – and Van Dyke is said to have won his bets, pocketing around $409,881.
The Justice Department said Van Dyke then transferred the majority of his winnings to a foreign cryptocurrency wallet and then moved them to a newly opened online brokerage account. He is also said to have tried to conceal his identity as a trader and asked Polymarket to delete his account – on the grounds that he no longer had access to the account’s email address.
“Prediction markets are not a safe haven for the use of misappropriated confidential or secret information for personal gain,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York. “Those entrusted with protecting our nation’s secrets have a duty to protect them – not to abuse them for personal financial gain.”
