A member of the U.S. special forces implicated in the mission to apprehend Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro faces charges for allegedly using classified details about the operation for personal financial gain through online betting. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, part of the team involved in the January operation to capture Maduro, supposedly leveraged his access to confidential information to profit from bets on Polymarket, a prediction market platform, according to federal officials in New York.
Van Dyke, aged 38, played a role in planning and executing the operation from December 8, 2025. Despite signing nondisclosure agreements prohibiting the disclosure of classified data related to the mission, he allegedly made bets foreseeing Maduro’s removal from power by January 31, 2026. The U.S. Justice Department has charged him with various offenses including unauthorized use of government information, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and illegal financial transactions, carrying potential prison time.
The complaint alleges that Van Dyke transferred $35,000 from his personal bank account to a cryptocurrency exchange account just before the operation to seize Maduro in Caracas. Between December 11, 2025, and January 31, 2026, he reportedly placed bets totaling over $32,500 on Maduro’s departure from power, with the majority occurring on January 2, shortly before the military action.
The profitable bets made by Van Dyke on Maduro’s ousting amounted to over $404,000, with additional earnings from bets on other Venezuela-related contracts. The U.S. Federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed a parallel complaint against Van Dyke over these actions.
Following the operation, Van Dyke purportedly moved most of his winnings to a foreign cryptocurrency vault and sought to delete his Polymarket account, claiming email access issues. The case drew comparisons to the controversy surrounding former baseball player Pete Rose, with President Donald Trump citing the pervasive nature of betting activities globally.
Van Dyke, a master sergeant in the U.S. Army’s special forces community stationed at Fort Bragg, joined the military in 2008. While details about his military service remain scant, photos show him in military attire following the operation on a ship deck. The Pentagon referred inquiries to the Army and Department of Justice, with the Army declining to disclose Van Dyke’s service record.
Prediction markets, which allow betting on various events, have attracted scrutiny for insider trading risks. Recent incidents involving Polymarket and Kalshi have led to calls for tighter regulations on these platforms amid concerns about misuse of confidential information for financial gain.