The Department of Justice arrested Army Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, on charges that he used classified intelligence from the planning of Operation Absolute Resolve to win more than $409,000 on the prediction market platform Polymarket. The case is the first time federal prosecutors have brought insider trading charges tied to a prediction market.
Van Dyke was directly involved in the planning and execution of the January raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas.
Several anonymous officials told CBS News he served as a communications specialist supporting Joint Special Operations Command, the task force headquartered at Fort Bragg that oversees tier-one special mission units.
Between Dec. 27 and Jan. 2, the eve of the operation, he reportedly placed 13 bets totaling approximately $33,000 on Polymarket contracts tied to Maduro’s removal from power. His largest single position, a $32,537 wager that Maduro would be out of office by Jan. 31, returned a 1,242% profit of $404,222.
Federal investigators identified Van Dyke after Polymarket flagged unusual trading activity on contracts tied to Venezuelan regime change in the days before the raid became public.
Prosecutors then allege Van Dyke asked Polymarket to delete his account, falsely claiming he had lost access to the associated email address. He then allegedly transferred proceeds through overseas cryptocurrency accounts in an attempt to conceal the origin of the funds.
Van Dyke has been on active duty since 2008 and was stationed at Fort Bragg, he reportedly held a Top Secret/SCI clearance and had signed nondisclosure agreements explicitly prohibiting the use of classified information for personal gain. The indictment charges him across five counts: unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction.
He appeared Friday in federal court in Raleigh, N.C., shackled at the hands and feet, and was released on a $250,000 appearance bond. He must surrender his passport, restrict travel to New York and North Carolina, and may not possess a firearm outside of active military duties. He is due at a federal courthouse in New York by Tuesday and was appointed a federal public defender.
“Our men and women in uniform are trusted with classified information in order to accomplish their mission as safely and effectively as possible,” the DOJ said, “and are prohibited from using it for personal gain.”
Operation Absolute Resolve, which removed Maduro from power after years of failed diplomatic pressure, was authorized directly by President Trump and was among the most closely guarded U.S. military operations in recent history. The Pentagon said it “takes the protection of classified information extremely seriously and will cooperate fully with the Department of Justice.”
The indictment lands at a particularly fraught moment for the prediction market industry. Polymarket and rival platform Kalshi updated their market integrity rules in March 2026, introducing explicit insider trading prohibitions for the first time under pressure from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
CFTC Chair Mike Selig vowed in April to investigate insider trading on prediction markets, describing the commission as the “cop on the beat.” Bipartisan Senate legislation, the Prediction Markets Are Gambling Act, and laws in 11 states had already put the sector on notice before Van Dyke’s arrest.
The charges prompted an immediate debate online around the double standard regarding the use of insider trading. Top comments across Instagram, Facebook, and X on the story flagged a familiar grievance: a combat veteran faces federal charges for conduct members of Congress engage in without consequence. One top comment on a popular news/OSINT account stated “They arrest a combat vet before a politician, figures” and another stated, “Imagine if they went after congress like this.”
Soldiers should know better. You’re only allowed to do this if you’re a member of congress. https://t.co/JA8QrSj2gL
— Dale Stark (@DaleStarkA10) April 23, 2026
The rhetoric was soon echoed by some on Capitol Hill. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna posted to X calling for a presidential pardon. “Maybe not a popular take but I am calling for this guy to be pardoned,” Luna wrote. “Unless the DOJ plans on going after all the crooks in congress currently insider trading, this is simply skewed justice. There is no ‘justice’ when guys like this get the book thrown at him yet members are illegally profiting every day. I don’t agree with what he did and he should be required to disgorge all the profits however, unless the DOJ plans on doing Congress next, this is not justice.”
Maybe not a popular take but I am calling for this guy to be pardoned. Unless the DOJ plans on going after all the crooks in congress currently insider trading, this is simply skewed justice. There is no “justice” when guys like this get the book thrown at him yet members are… https://t.co/b5hFXY3Ryp
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) April 23, 2026
Rep. Jimmy Patronis, also representing Florida, echoed her Thursday night. “If the DOJ isn’t prepared to go after every member of Congress who’s profiting off insider trading, then this feels like selective enforcement, not justice,” Patronis wrote.
The argument those lawmakers are making is not without evidentiary basis. The STOCK Act, passed in 2012, requires members of Congress to disclose stock trades within 45 days. However, It does not prohibit trading on knowledge obtained through classified briefings, a loophole critics have targeted without legislative success.
Late disclosure violations carry an embarrassingly low fine of $200. No member of Congress has ever been criminally prosecuted for trading on information obtained through official duties.
Analyses by financial tracking organizations including Unusual Whales have found that congressional portfolios have outperformed the broader market at rates difficult to attribute to chance. According to the Unusual Whales 2025 Congress Trading Report, 140 members of Congress made 14,451 trades totaling $720 million in 2025. The report flagged over 1,200 late-reported transactions, and STOCK Act violations hit a record.
Van Dyke faces decades in federal prison if convicted on all counts. Whether anyone else with classified access to Operation Absolute Resolve placed similar trades remains unanswered.
