The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged Gannon Ken Van Dyke, an active-duty special forces soldier based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, with insider trading. He allegedly used classified military information to place bets on a crypto prediction platform called Polymarket, winning over $409,000. The bets were connected to the removal of Venezuela’s former leader, Nicolas Maduro.
US forces captured Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in a night raid on January 3rd and brought them to New York to face charges of weapon and drug offenses, which they both deny. Van Dyke was part of the operation and had access to classified details about it before it happened.
In December 2025, Van Dyke allegedly created a Polymarket account and started placing bets on Maduro and Venezuela-related markets. According to the BBC, he is accused of wagering more than $33,000 while holding classified, nonpublic information about the operation, known as Operation Absolute Resolve. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has also filed a separate complaint against him.
The Maduro bet case has opened a wider debate about insider trading and selective enforcement
As a soldier, Van Dyke had signed nondisclosure agreements, meaning he was legally bound not to share or use classified information. The DOJ says he broke that agreement by using it to make a financial profit on a prediction market platform. Maduro, meanwhile, is currently jailed and awaiting trial for narcoterrorism, while Venezuela’s acting president continues to claim he is the country’s legitimate leader.
Polymarket has said it will cooperate with the investigation. In a statement, the company said, “When we identified a user trading on classified government information, we referred the matter to the DOJ & cooperated with their investigation.” The case has drawn reactions from members of Congress. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) called on President Donald Trump to pardon Van Dyke, saying the charges reflect “skewed justice.”
She argued that unless the DOJ plans to go after all members of Congress who are currently engaging in insider trading, “this is simply not justice.” Rep. Jimmy Patronis (R-FL) agreed, calling the DOJ’s move “selective enforcement” and backing Luna’s push for regulation on congressional stock trading. He suggested that if the DOJ is not going after every lawmaker profiting from insider information, then singling out Van Dyke does not feel like equal enforcement of the law.
Separately, Maduro’s legal team has also been making moves in court, as he attempts to have his narco-terror charges dismissed, claiming the US is blocking his access to proper legal counsel.Â
The case has also raised broader questions about prediction markets like Polymarket, which allow users to bet real money on real-world events. While legal in many cases, the platform can be misused if someone places bets with knowledge that the general public does not have access to, which is exactly what the DOJ is alleging here.
Published: Apr 24, 2026 08:30 am