A U.S. Army soldier has been indicted by the Justice Division for allegedly betting on the seize of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro by accessing categorised data and utilizing it for private acquire.
Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, of Fayetteville, N.C., allegedly made greater than $400,000 by buying and selling on Polymarket, a prediction market, whereas additionally collaborating within the planning and execution of the U.S. navy operation “Operation Absolute Resolve” to seize Maduro.
Van Dyke is charged with three counts of violating the Commodity Alternate Act, which carries a most sentence of 10 years in jail for every depend. He additionally faces one depend of wire fraud, which carries a most sentence of 20 years in jail, and one depend of an illegal financial transaction carrying a most penalty of 10 years in jail.
“Our women and men in uniform are trusted with categorised data with the intention to accomplish their mission as safely and successfully as potential, and are prohibited from utilizing this extremely delicate data for private monetary acquire,” stated Performing Lawyer Basic Todd Blanche in an announcement on Thursday.
“Widespread entry to prediction markets is a comparatively new phenomenon, however federal legal guidelines defending nationwide safety data absolutely apply,” he added.
The indictment was introduced earlier than U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide Brian Meyers within the Jap District of North Carolina. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Decide Margaret Garnett within the Southern District of New York.
Allegations of Divulging Categorized Data
Van Dyke has been an active-duty soldier within the U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Bragg, a navy base in Fayetteville.
The fees allege that Van Dyke signed nondisclosure agreements promising to “by no means expose, publish, or reveal by writing, phrases, conduct, or in any other case…any categorised or delicate data” relative to navy operations.
The indictment takes particular exception to Van Dyke’s use of his navy entry to make his trades, beginning round Dec. 8, 2025, and persevering with via not less than Jan. 6, 2026.
Maduro and his spouse have been apprehended Within the pre-dawn hours of Jan. 3, 2026, at a residence in Caracas, Venezuela.
Hours later, in line with the indictment, U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of the profitable operation was adopted by Polymarket resolving a number of Maduro and Venezuela-related trades that aligned with “Maduro out by… January 31, 2026,” and “US forces in Venezuela by… January 31, 2026.”
In consequence, Van Dyke gained his wagers on these contracts, incomes a grand complete of roughly $409,881 after betting roughly $33,034 on these outcomes.
The indictment alleges on the identical day of the operation, Van Dyke withdrew the vast majority of his allegedly illegal proceeds from his Polymarket account, sending most of his proceeds to a overseas cryptocurrency vault earlier than depositing them right into a newly created on-line brokerage account.
“Prediction markets aren’t a haven for utilizing misappropriated confidential or categorised data for private acquire,” stated U.S. Lawyer Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York in an announcement. “The defendant allegedly violated the belief positioned in him by the USA Authorities by utilizing categorised details about a delicate navy operation to position bets on the timing and consequence of that very operation, all to show a revenue.”
Clayton known as it clear insider buying and selling, which is unlawful below federal legislation.
These entrusted to safeguard our nation’s secrets and techniques have an obligation to guard them and our armed service members, and to not use that data for private monetary acquire. Our Workplace will proceed to carry accountable those that misuse confidential or categorised data in a means that undermines and exploits our nationwide safety.
Van Dyke’s entry as an Army soldier to the categorised plans concentrating on Maduro was profitable and concerned a number of navy incidents throughout the operation, in line with the indictment.
The indictment additionally alleges Van Dyke took steps to hide his identification because the dealer within the Maduro and Venezuela-related markets, together with allegedly requesting Polymarket to delete his account on or round Jan. 6, 2026, falsely claiming that he had misplaced entry to the e-mail deal with to which the account had been related.
“That very same day, Van Dyke modified the e-mail registered to his cryptocurrency trade account to an e-mail deal with that was not subscribed to in his title, and which he had created on or about Dec. 14, 2025,” per the indictment.
