A United States special forces soldier has been arrested and charged with a series of federal crimes after allegedly using classified intelligence regarding a military mission to profit from online bets. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, a master sergeant based at Fort Bragg, stands accused of leveraging insider knowledge of “Operation Absolute Resolve”—the January 2026 raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—to place winning wagers on the prediction market site Polymarket.
The indictment alleges that Van Dyke, who was involved in the planning and execution of the clandestine mission, created an account on the platform in late December 2025. Over the course of several days leading up to the operation, he reportedly placed approximately 13 bets that the U.S. would successfully intervene and remove Maduro from power by the end of January 2026.
As detailed by Axios, the soldier’s illicit betting activity resulted in profits exceeding $400,000, which he subsequently attempted to obscure by moving the funds into a foreign cryptocurrency vault and requesting the deletion of his Polymarket account shortly after the mission was completed.
Federal prosecutors have charged Van Dyke with wire fraud, commodities fraud, theft of nonpublic government information, and making unlawful monetary transactions. The case represents a significant escalation in scrutiny regarding prediction markets, which have seen a surge in popularity despite ongoing concerns about the potential for insider trading.
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According to The New York Times, the indictment highlights the growing anxiety among federal regulators and national security officials over how government clearance holders might exploit sensitive, non-public information to gamble on the outcomes of operations they are sworn to protect.
The Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have both taken action against Van Dyke, marking the first time U.S. officials have leveled criminal charges specifically related to prediction market wagers.
Polymarket confirmed that it had identified the suspicious trading, alerted the Justice Department, and cooperated fully with the investigation.
For his part, Van Dyke now faces a potential multi-year prison sentence, with officials emphasizing that the misuse of classified military intelligence not only undermines the integrity of financial markets but also endangers the lives of service members engaged in sensitive national security operations.
