Army Soldier Arrested for Insider Bets on Maduro Capture

Federal authorities arrested a U.S. Army special forces soldier Thursday for allegedly using classified information about a military operation to place lucrative bets on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, in which the soldier participated.

Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke, an active-duty member of the Army's special forces stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, faces five criminal charges, including the unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, and fraud. According to the unsealed indictment, Van Dyke created an account on Polymarket, a prominent prediction market platform, around December 26, 2025. Between December 27 and January 2, 2026, he placed 13 bets totaling about $33,000 on outcomes related to U.S. military action in Venezuela, including whether Maduro would be removed from office by January 31. The largest wager, $32,537, predicted Maduro's ouster and yielded a profit of $404,222 after the operation succeeded.

The bets drew immediate scrutiny due to their size and timing, prompting a months-long investigation by federal prosecutors. Van Dyke allegedly attempted to conceal...