Supporters of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro protest outside of Manhattan Federal Court.
Michael M Santiago/Getty Images
- A US Army soldier faces charges after betting on the capture of Nicolas Maduro.
- Gannon Ken Van Dyke used sensitive classified information to make wagers on prediction market Polymarket.
- The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission also brought civil charges against Van Dyke.
A US Army soldier involved in the capture of Nicolas Maduro has been charged with making $400 000 by betting on the removal of the ousted Venezuelan leader, the Justice Department said on Thursday.
In the weeks leading up to Maduro’s 3 January capture, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a master sergeant with US Army Special Forces, used sensitive classified information to make wagers on prediction market Polymarket that US forces would enter Venezuela and that Maduro would be out of power.
A grand jury in Manhattan federal court indicted Van Dyke, 38, on charges of unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of non-public government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction.
The case appeared to mark the first time the department had brought insider trading charges involving a prediction market.
“Our men and women in uniform are trusted with classified information in order to accomplish their mission as safely and effectively as possible, and are prohibited from using this highly sensitive information for personal financial gain,” Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
READ | Venezuela’s Maduro back in court after stunning US capture
Defence attorney information for Van Dyke was not immediately available.
He was expected to be presented before a judge in North Carolina later on Thursday, the Justice Department said.
The Pentagon deferred comment to the Justice Department.
Today proved just how easy it is to find & charge criminal insider trading when markets are onchain.
It’s not anonymous — you will be found just like this guy. We appreciate the recognition from SDNY & will continue to work with gov’t authorities to prosecute bad actors. https://t.co/dUpUzZyY1y
— Neal Kumar (@HereComesKumar) April 23, 2026
Asked by reporters about the arrest, US President Donald Trump said he was not familiar with the case, but that it reminded him of Pete Rose, who was banned from Major League Baseball over a gambling scandal.
“That’s like Pete Rose betting on his own team,” Trump said.
“If he bet against his team, that would be no good, but he bet on his own team. I’ll look into it.”
In a post on X, Polymarket said it had referred the matter to the Justice Department.
“Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today’s arrest is proof the system works,” the post read.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission also brought civil charges against Van Dyke.
Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrives at the Wall Street heliport ahead of his appearance in federal court in New York, US.
Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Van Dyke has been an active-duty soldier in the US Army since 2008 and had most recently been stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors said Van Dyke was involved in the “planning and execution” of the Maduro capture, but did not go into detail.
The indictment made note of a photograph Van Dyke uploaded to his Google account in the early morning of 3 January, hours after the US military brought Maduro to the USS Iwo Jima amphibious assault ship.
“That photograph depicts Van Dyke on what appears to be the deck of a ship at sea, at sunrise, wearing US military fatigues, and carrying a rifle, standing alongside three other individuals wearing US military fatigues,” the indictment read.
Large, well‑timed trades in recent months have drawn concern from US lawmakers and legal experts that decisions around war and diplomacy can give some traders an edge in volatile and opaque derivatives markets.
This is a view of the vessels which heading toward the Strait of Hormuz.
Shady Alassar/Anadolu via Getty Images
Last week, investors placed a bet worth about $760 million on a falling oil price around 20 minutes before Iran’s foreign minister announced on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz was open, another sizeable wager on the world’s most traded commodity ahead of major announcements in the course of the Middle East war.
Reuters reported that on 7 April that bets worth around $950 million took place just hours ahead of the US and Iran announcing a two-week ceasefire.
On 23 March, investors sold $500 million in 15 minutes before US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would delay attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure, triggering a 15% drop in the crude price.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating a series of oil futures trades, including those on 23 March and 7 April, that were placed shortly before major policy shifts by Trump related to the war in Iran, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
