'Profiting off righteous operation': How an army soldier used secret war plans about Maduro's capture to make $400,000 on Polymarket

A US Army soldier on Wednesday (Apr 21) was indicted on federal charges after allegedly using classified information about the secret military operation to capture Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. The soldier, identified as Gannon Ken Van Dyke by the Justice Department, is accused of taking advantage of his position "to profit off of a righteous military operation." He reportedly walked off with more than $400,000 in winnings based on the top-secret intel, before attempting to conceal his identity and move the funds offshore. Here's all we know.

According to the US DoJ, 38-year-old Gannon Ken Van Dyke, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, has been charged with unlawful use of confidential government information, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and an unlawful monetary transaction.

Gannon Ken Van Dyke was stationed at Fort Bragg. He was an active participant in the planning and execution of Operation Absolute Resolve. This classified mission resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in the predawn hours of January 3.

According to the indictment, Van Dyke created a Polymarket account on December 26, 2025, and over the following weeks placed 13 bets totalling approximately $33,000, all of them taking the "YES" position on contracts tied to whether US forces would enter Venezuela, whether Maduro would be removed from power, and whether Trump would invoke war powers against Venezuela, all before January 31. He placed these bets while in possession of classified, non-public information confirming that the operation was already underway.

When Maduro was captured, and US President Donald Trump announced the operation publicly on January 3, Polymarket resolved the relevant contracts in Van Dyke's favour. His total profit: approximately $409,881.

Ken Van Dyke then moved quickly to cover his tracks. The same day the operation was announced, Van Dyke withdrew the bulk of his winnings and transferred most of them to a foreign cryptocurrency vault before depositing them into a newly created online brokerage account. When reports of unusual trading activity on Polymarket's Venezuela-related markets began circulating in the press and on social media, Van Dyke contacted Polymarket on January 6, asking it to delete his account, falsely claiming he had lost access to the associated email address. That same day, he changed the email registered to his cryptocurrency exchange account to one created under a different name, which he had set up on December 14.

Polymarket, operated by Blockratize Inc., had been offering binary event contracts on Venezuela and Maduro since 2025. The platform became a flashpoint earlier this year when reports emerged of unusual trading around the Iran strikes, with suspected insiders making millions on contracts tied to the death of Supreme Leader Khamenei. Van Dyke's case is the first criminal indictment arising from alleged insider trading on a prediction market.

"Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain," said US Attorney Jay Clayton. “Those entrusted to safeguard our nation's secrets have a duty to protect them — not to use that information for personal financial gain.”

FBI Director Kash Patel called the case a betrayal of fellow service members. "Any clearance holders thinking of cashing in their access and knowledge for personal gain will be held accountable," he said.

On X, he confirmed the case and said, "This involved a U.S. soldier who allegedly took advantage of his position to profit from a righteous military operation.

Van Dyke faces up to 20 years in prison on the wire fraud count alone, with additional maximum sentences of 10 years each on the commodities fraud and unlawful monetary transaction charges. He was presented before a federal magistrate judge in the Eastern District of North Carolina on Wednesday.