Gannon Ken Van Dyk is accused of using his access to classified information to make money on the prediction market site Polymarket
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenAssociated PressPublished: 6:29am, 24 Apr 2026Updated: 6:36am, 24 Apr 2026A US soldier has been charged with using inside information to win US$400,000 in an online betting market on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s capture, federal officials announced on Thursday.
Gannon Ken Van Dyk was part of the operation to capture Maduro in January and used his access to classified information to make money on the prediction market site Polymarket, the federal prosecutor’s office in New York said.
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 few other details about his military service.
However, the document says that 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”.
Van Dyke was involved in the planning and execution of capturing Maduro for about a month beginning 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.
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How Maduro’s abduction is set to change Latin AmericaHe has been charged with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction.
