A US Army soldier involved in planning the operation to seize Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been charged with using classified details of the mission to make hundreds of thousands of dollars on a crypto prediction market. Federal prosecutors say Gannon Ken Van Dyke, stationed at Fort Bragg, opened a Polymarket account on Dec. 26 and wagered about $33,000 on contracts tied to US actions in Venezuela and Maduro's removal between Dec. 27 and Jan. 2, the Hill reports. The operation began early Jan. 3 and led to the capture of Maduro and his wife, generating what authorities say was more than $400,000 in profit for Van Dyke.
US Attorney Jay Clayton in New York said Van Dyke, 38, "violated the trust placed in him" by using sensitive military information "to place bets on the timing and outcome" of the mission, calling the conduct "clear insider trading" under federal law. Prosecutors said Van Dyke tried to hide his role once the trades drew attention, including by asking Polymarket on Jan. 6 to delete his account and changing the email tied to the crypto wallet holding his gains. Van Dyke faces three counts under the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud, and one count related to an unlawful money transaction. Polymarket said it identified a user trading on classified government information, referred the case to the Justice Department, and cooperated with the investigation.
Van Dyke is an active-duty Special Forces soldier, per the Washington Post, who prosecutors say also was involved in carrying out the raid. The indictment says he was photographed afterward on the deck of a ship "wearing U.S. military fatigues, and carrying a rifle," per the AP. The prosecution appears to be the first instance of the Justice Department bringing an insider trading case based on prediction market bets.
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