A senior Army Green Beret used his inside knowledge of clandestine operations to make more than $400,000 by betting on the timing of Operation Absolute Resolve, the Jan. 3 mission to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.
Federal prosecutors said Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., and was part of the team that planned and executed the mission. He is accused of using his access to classified military information to make wagers on its outcome with Polymarket, a prediction marketplace.
In 2025, Polymarket began offering betting contracts related to whether certain events involving Mr. Maduro and Venezuela would take place. They included predictions of the likelihood that U.S. troops would be in Venezuela by certain dates, whether the now-arrested leader would be taken into custody, and whether President Trump would invoke “war powers” against Caracas.
Sgt. Van Dyke made at least 13 bets on Polymarket totaling about $33,000 while in possession of classified information about the mission, federal prosecutors said.
“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,” said Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
“That is clear insider trading and is illegal under federal law. 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,” Mr. Clayton said.
After the mission, Sgt. Van Dyke sent most of the $400,000 profit to a foreign cryptocurrency vault before depositing the funds in a newly created online brokerage account. He began to conceal his identity on Polymarket after reports of “unusual” trading about Mr. Maduro began to appear in the press and on social media.
“Van Dyke asked Polymarket to delete his Polymarket account, falsely claiming that he had lost access to the email address to which the account had been associated,” Justice Department officials said.
He also changed the email registered to his cryptocurrency account to an address not registered in his name, officials said.
Sgt. Van Dyke was charged with three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud, and one count of unlawful monetary transaction. He is facing 60 years in prison if convicted on all three charges.
“No one is above the law, and this FBI will do whatever it takes to defend the homeland and safeguard our nation’s secrets,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. “Any clearance holders thinking of cashing in their access and knowledge for personal gain will be held accountable.”
