US soldier wagered classified information on Maduro capture and won US$409,000
The US Department of Justice arrested a military officer who wagered on Polymarket using secret data from the operation that captured Nicolás Maduro, pocketing more than US$409,000.
Military officer accused of fraud for betting with classified information on Maduro's fall
The United States Department of Justice arrested a soldier who participated in the operation to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, accused of using classified information to place bets on the prediction portal Polymarket and obtain a net gain of more than US$409,000, according to a report by bbc.com on Thursday.
The accused, identified as Gannon Ken Van Dyk, placed wagers of more than US$33,000 on Polymarket just hours before president Donald Trump publicly announced that Maduro had been captured during the so-called "Operation Absolute Resolution". Van Dyk reportedly participated in the planning and execution of that operation.
His largest bet, a wager of US$32,537 that Maduro would relinquish power before 31 January, generated a return of 1,242%, equivalent to US$404,222. According to Polymarket, the account from which the transactions were made was created in December 2025 and included four predictions linked to the US invasion of Venezuela and the fall of the leader.
Although the formal accusation does not detail Van Dyk's specific participation in the incursion, prosecutors pointed out that he was photographed in uniform and armed with a rifle on the deck of the USS Iwo Jima, the ship to which Maduro was transferred following his capture. Maduro was detained on 3 January by US forces and taken to US territory to face charges of narco-terrorism.
Charges and official reaction
Van Dyk faces accusations that include unlawful use of confidential information for personal benefit, theft of non-public government information, commodities fraud and wire fraud.
FBI director Kash Patel was categorical in his assessment: "Today's announcement makes clear that no one is above the law and that this FBI will do whatever is necessary to defend the country and safeguard the nation's secrets."
Acting attorney general Todd Blanche also commented on the case. "Our men and women in uniform are entrusted with classified information to carry out their mission in the most effective and secure manner possible and are prohibited from using that highly sensitive information to obtain personal financial benefit," he stated.
The accusation document states that Van Dyk "decided to use that classified information to conduct transactions on a prediction market platform for his personal benefit" instead of safeguarding it as was his obligation. The document adds that "he attempted to conceal his unlawful use of classified US government information by trying to obscure the origin of his illicit gains and disguise his connection to the accounts linked to the illegal transactions."
Attempt to cover tracks
According to investigators, Van Dyk attempted to destroy evidence of his operations by deleting his Polymarket account and changing the email address associated with his cryptocurrency exchange account, to which he had transferred the funds cashed out from the betting platform.
Polymarket, for its part, indicated in a statement published on X that it submitted the suspicious wagers to the Department of Justice and cooperated actively with the investigation. "Trading on inside information has no place on Polymarket. Today's arrest is proof that the system works," the company stated.
A pattern raising alarm
The Van Dyk case is not the only one that has raised suspicions regarding Polymarket and similar platforms. A different user obtained US$550,000 in wagers linked to US attacks against Iran that resulted in the death of supreme leader Ali Khamenei, another episode that generated doubts about the use of privileged information on these portals.
The timing of Van Dyk's wagers, placed hours before the official announcement, was what initially alerted authorities and triggered a multi-month investigation into the possible use of classified data for personal financial purposes.
Source: Google News VE — Caracas