DOJ charged Army Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York with 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.
Van Dyke, 38, has been active-duty since 2008 and he’s held the rank of master sergeant in US Army Special Forces since 2023, stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina. DOJ alleges he participated in planning and executing “Operation Absolute Resolve,” the US military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026.
Starting December 26, 2025, Van Dyke created a Polymarket account and placed roughly 13 bets totaling $33,034 on “YES” positions: US forces in Venezuela by January 31, Maduro out by January 31, US invasion of Venezuela by January 31, and Trump invoking war powers against Venezuela by January 31. He was bound by nondisclosure agreements covering classified and sensitive military information. DOJ says he profited approximately $409,881.
Van Dyke’s accused of sending most of his proceeds to a foreign cryptocurrency vault before depositing them into a newly created online brokerage account, and of taking steps to conceal his identity as the trader in Maduro- and Venezuela-related markets.
President Trump was asked about the case Thursday and compared Van Dyke to Pete Rose: “Pete Rose, they kept him out of the Hall of Fame because he bet on his own team. Now, if he bet against his team, that would be no good, but he bet on his own team. I’ll look into it.”
Van Dyke’s indictment is pending in SDNY. No hearing date has been set.
— James Okafor