US soldier charged with using classified intel to win $560,000 bet on Maduro raid

Washington: A US soldier involved in the military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been charged with using classified information about the mission to win more than $US400,000 ($560,000) in an online betting market, federal officials announced.

Gannon Ken Van Dyke was part of the operation to capture Maduro in January and allegedly used his access to classified information to make money on the prediction market site Polymarket, the federal prosecutor’s office in New York said on Thursday.

Van Dyke was involved in the planning and execution of capturing Maduro for about a month beginning on December 8, 2025, according to the federal prosecutor’s office. He signed nondisclosure agreements promising to not divulge “any classified or sensitive information” related to the operations, the office said.

Officials allege that Van Dyke created a Polymarket account towards the end of December and made about 13 bets that took the “Yes” position on such wagers as US forces being in Venezuela and Maduro being out by January 31, 2026.

The soldier faces five counts, including three charges he violated the Commodity Exchange Act, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years in prison, and one count of wire fraud, which carries as long as 20 years in prison.

The case appeared to mark the first time the Department of Justice had brought insider trading charges involving a prediction market.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission lodged a parallel civil complaint against the soldier, marking the first time the US derivatives regulator filed a prediction markets insider trading case.

It was also the first time the agency used what’s known as the “Eddie Murphy Rule” in an insider trading case, according to the CFTC. The rule is named after the star of Trading Places, the 1983 movie in which characters played by Murphy and Dan Aykroyd used a pilfered government orange crop report to make millions betting on orange juice futures.

FBI director Kash Patel said the announcement made it clear that no one was above the law.

“Any clearance holders thinking of cashing in their access and knowledge for personal gain will be held accountable,” he said in a statement.

US President Donald Trump said he would investigate federal employees placing bets on event-betting platforms.

“I’ll look into it,” Trump told reporters when asked on Thursday about the case against Van Dyke.

Trump said he long had issues with the concept of event-betting platforms. The White House and handful of other government offices have recently warned employees that they are not allowed to trade on prediction markets using confidential information.

“Well, you know, the whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino,” Trump said. “And you look at what’s going on all over the world, in Europe and every place they’re doing these betting things. I was never much in favour of it. I don’t like it conceptually.”

Trump said he was not familiar with the details of case but that it reminded him of Pete Rose, who was banned from Major League Baseball over a gambling scandal.

“That’s like Pete Rose betting on his own team,” Trump said. “If he bet against his team, that would be no good, but he bet on his own team.”

Van Dyk was a senior enlisted soldier who was part of the special forces community and stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina, according to the indictment, but it offers little other details about his military service.

He joined the army in 2008 and, in 2023, was promoted to the rank of master sergeant, the second-highest enlisted rank in the army, according to the indictment.

However, the document says Van Dyke was photographed following the raid on the deck of a ship “wearing US military fatigues and carrying a rifle, standing alongside three other individuals wearing US military fatigues”.

Information on Van Dyke’s defence attorney was not immediately available. He is expected to face a judge in North Carolina later on Thursday (US time), the Department of Justice said.

The Pentagon referred questions on the case to the army and the Department of Justice. US Special Operations Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a post on X, Polymarket said it had referred the matter to the department. “Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today’s arrest is proof the system works,” the post read.

Polymarket and its main rival, Kalshi, have both recently announced new policies designed to stop people from using nonpublic information on the platforms.

London’s The Telegraph reported that French police were investigating suspicions that a hairdryer may have been used to tamper with official weather readings to make thousands of dollars in Polymarket bets.

Temperature readings at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport unexpectedly spiked twice in the last month, reaching levels much higher than expected. On both days, gamblers on Polymarket appear to have made huge sums by betting on unlikely weather patterns. The site relied on readings from the Charles de Gaulle temperature sensor.

On Wednesday, Kalshi said it had fined and banned three political candidates who had bet on their own elections.

Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., is an adviser to Kalshi and Polymarket and an investor in Polymarket through the venture fund 1789 Capital, where he’s a partner.

AP, Bloomberg, Reuters

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