A decorated US Army special forces soldier has been charged with insider trading and fraud after allegedly exploiting classified knowledge of a covert military operation to win more than $409,000 on a crypto-powered prediction market — a case federal prosecutors are calling a brazen abuse of national security secrets for personal profit.
Gannon Ken Van Dyke, stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, faces five federal charges brought by the US Department of Justice: unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a separate civil complaint accusing him of insider trading.
At the centre of the case is Operation Absolute Resolve, a classified military mission that culminated in the dramatic capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. In a night-time raid on their compound in Caracas on 3 January, US forces seized the couple and transported them to New York to face allegations of weapons and drug offences.
Federal prosecutors allege Van Dyke was directly involved in the planning and execution of Operation Absolute Resolve from 8 December 2025 until at least 6 January 2026 — a role that gave him advance knowledge of one of the most sensitive American military operations in recent memory. He had signed nondisclosure agreements as a condition of his service.
Despite those obligations, Van Dyke allegedly created an account on Polymarket, a blockchain-based prediction platform, on or about 26 December 2025 — weeks before the raid took place. He then placed bets totalling more than $33,000 while in possession of classified information about the operation, ultimately walking away with winnings exceeding $409,000 as events unfolded precisely as his insider knowledge had predicted.
Polymarket did not shield the activity. The platform referred the matter to the DOJ and cooperated fully with the subsequent investigation — a move that proved decisive in building the federal case against Van Dyke.
Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche and US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton are overseeing the prosecution. The charges carry significant potential penalties and represent one of the most unusual national security cases in recent years, blending the worlds of covert military operations and decentralised finance.
President Donald Trump, when asked about the alleged betting scheme, said he had not heard about it but made his position clear. "I'm not happy with any of that stuff," Trump said, signalling broader discomfort with the intersection of prediction markets and insider trading concerns.
The case raises uncomfortable questions about the security protocols surrounding sensitive military operations and the growing accessibility of platforms that allow individuals to profit from geopolitical events. Polymarket, which operates using cryptocurrency and allows users to wager on real-world outcomes ranging from elections to international crises, has surged in popularity — but this case illustrates the potential for abuse when participants possess non-public information of the highest classification.
Van Dyke's alleged conduct — creating a betting account weeks before a classified raid, placing tens of thousands of dollars in targeted wagers, and collecting a six-figure windfall — represents what prosecutors characterise as a fundamental betrayal of the trust placed in special operations personnel. As a soldier who had signed formal nondisclosure agreements, he was legally and ethically bound to protect the information he allegedly turned into a personal financial instrument.
The arrest and charges come as the United States continues to process the geopolitical fallout from the Maduro capture, an operation that has reshaped relations across Latin America and drawn intense international scrutiny. For Van Dyke, the prediction market gamble that briefly made him a wealthy man now threatens to define the remainder of his military career — and his freedom.
