Army Sgt. Indicted for $409K Classified Betting on Maduro Raid

A federal indictment unsealed Thursday in Manhattan charged U.S. Army Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a 38-year-old soldier stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with using classified information from a military operation to place successful bets on a prediction market, netting him more than $400,000. The case has sparked calls for a presidential pardon from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., who described the prosecution as inconsistent with how insider trading is handled among lawmakers.

Van Dyke, who helped plan the U.S. military raid that captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on January 3, allegedly drew on his insider knowledge to wager about $33,000 on Polymarket between late December and early January. The bets focused on the timing and outcome of the operation, which led to Maduro's arrest on narcoterrorism charges. When the mission succeeded, Van Dyke's wagers paid out approximately $409,881, according to prosecutors.

Authorities claim Van Dyke attempted to conceal his activities by requesting Polymarket delete his account, transferring the winnings to a foreign cryptocurrency account, and later depositing them into a U.S....