A U.S. special forces soldier involved in the operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was arrested after allegedly placing bets on a prediction market about Maduro’s removal before that raid was publicly reported, law enforcement and military officials told CBS News.
Federal prosecutors say U.S. Army Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke placed more than $33,000 in wagers on Polymarket within hours of President Trump’s Jan. 3 Truth Social announcement that Maduro had been captured. Those bets hit and resulted in winnings of more than $409,000, according to an indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York.
Van Dyke was charged with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud and engaging in monetary transactions from unlawful activity. The Justice Department said Van Dyke was involved in planning and executing the operation to capture Maduro.
“Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton said. He called the alleged conduct “clear insider trading” that violated the trust placed in the defendant by the U.S. government.
Officials told CBS News Van Dyke was a communications specialist supporting Joint Special Operations Command, which oversees Tier 1 units such as Delta Force and SEAL Team Six. He has been on active duty since 2008, became a master sergeant in 2023, and was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, at the time of the alleged offense.
Prosecutors say the Polymarket account placed a $32,537 wager that Maduro would be “out by January 31, 2026.” The same account also made a $1,000 bet that the U.S. would invade Venezuela by Jan. 31, a $250 wager that President Trump would invoke the War Powers Act against Venezuela by that date, and a $146 bet that U.S. forces would land in Venezuela by month’s end. Van Dyke allegedly withdrew most of the proceeds on Jan. 3 and later took steps to conceal his identity, including asking Polymarket to delete the account.
Polymarket said it referred the matter to the Department of Justice after identifying a user trading on classified government information and cooperated with investigators. “Insider trading has no place on Polymarket,” the company said, calling the arrest proof the system works.
President Trump, at an unrelated Oval Office event, said he had not heard about the alleged betting but would look into it, comparing the situation to baseball figure Pete Rose betting on his own team. He added he was “not happy with any of that stuff,” and lamented that the world has “become somewhat of a casino” with widespread betting.
While the arrest is a first for U.S. authorities in connection with prediction-market wagering on classified operations, prosecutors earlier charged two Israeli soldiers in February in a similar case involving alleged use of classified information to place Polymarket bets.
Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan discussed the risk of users trading on inside information in a televised interview, saying that while people with market edges can benefit markets, platforms must be strict about where lines are drawn and about ethics.