The Justice Department has unsealed an indictment charging Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a 38-year-old U.S. Army soldier stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina, with using classified information about a sensitive military operation to profit from bets on Polymarket.
Van Dyke is accused of participating in the planning and execution of "Operation Absolute Resolve," a U.S. military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. As alleged in the indictment, Van Dyke used his access to nonpublic classified information regarding the timing of the operation to place wagers on prediction markets operated by Blockratize Inc.
According to the government, Van Dyke created a Polymarket account on or about December 26, 2025, and funded it with approximately $33,034. Between December 27, 2025, and January 26, 2026, he placed roughly 13 bets taking the "YES" position on contracts related to U.S. forces entering Venezuela, Maduro being removed from power by January 31, 2026, a U.S. invasion of Venezuela, and President Trump invoking War Powers against the country.
The indictment alleges that Van Dyke made these bets while in possession of classified information about Operation Absolute Resolve. In the predawn hours of January 3, U.S. forces apprehended Maduro and his wife in Caracas. Hours later, the President of the United States announced the successful operation.
Following the announcement, Polymarket resolved several Maduro-related contracts to "YES." Van Dyke won his wagers on those contracts and allegedly profited approximately $409,881.
After securing his winnings, Van Dyke allegedly sent most of the proceeds to a foreign cryptocurrency vault before depositing them into a newly created online brokerage account. He withdrew the majority of his proceeds from Polymarket on the same day as the operation.
As reports of unusual trading in Maduro-related contracts appeared in the press and on social media, Van Dyke allegedly took steps to conceal his identity. On January 6, 2026, he asked Polymarket to delete his account by 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 an unassociated address created in December 2025.
Van Dyke is charged with three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud, and one count of an unlawful monetary transaction. The charges carry maximum sentences of 10 years in prison for the Commodity Exchange Act violations, 20 years for wire fraud, and 10 years for the unlawful monetary transaction.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement that "Widespread access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, but federal laws protecting national security information fully apply." U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York called Van Dyke's alleged conduct "clear insider trading" and stated that prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain.
Van Dyke is scheduled to be presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian S. Meyers in the Eastern District of North Carolina. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett in the Southern District of New York.