Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seen in handcuffs after arriving by helicopter in Manhattan, escorted by heavily armed Federal agents into an armored car en route to the Federal courthouse in Manhattan on Jan. 5, 2026 in New York City.
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A US Army Special Forces sergeant has been arrested on suspicion of using confidential information to make bets on the Polymarket market related to the operation of the US military to kidnap Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the Justice Department said Thursday.
The sergeant, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, “was involved in the planning and execution of Operation Absolute Resolve,” which arrested Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in early January, the DOJ said.
Van Dyke, 38, wagered a total of about $33,000 in 13 or more bets in the week leading up to that operation, knowing the United States was secretly plotting to fight Maduro, according to a lawsuit unsealed Thursday in US District Court in Manhattan.
The bet won Van Dyke nearly $410,000, the lawsuit said.
His arrest comes as Polymarket and Kalshi have grown in popularity and as concerns have grown about insiders making wagers on those prediction market platforms.
Polymarket, in a statement, said, “Last month, we published our enhanced market integrity rules to combat insider trading.”
“When we pointed user trading confidential government information, we referred the matter to the DOJ and cooperated with their investigation,” the company said. “Insider trading has no place at Polymarket. Today’s arrest is proof that the system is working.”
Van Dyke had been stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which is home to the US special forces that took part in the capture of Maduro and his wife.
He is expected to be arraigned Thursday evening before a magistrate judge in North Carolina’s Eastern District Court.
Van Dyke faces three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of fraud, and one count of money laundering. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted of the felony, fraud, and up to 10 years on the remaining charges.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates the futures markets, charged Van Dyke separately in a civil complaint for allegedly using confidential, non-public information to make bets related to the Maduro impeachment mission.
Both the criminal and civil charges against Van Dyke were filed in federal court in Manhattan – the same court where Maduro was charged with narco-terrorism, cocaine trafficking conspiracy, and weapons charges, and where Flores was charged with cocaine and weapons.
The criminal case says that Van Dyke was involved in organizing Maduro’s job on December 8, and that on Dec. 26, he created a Polymarket account and started trading in markets related to questions about Maduro and Venezuela.
The lawsuit against Van Dyke says he bet Polymarket between Dec. 27 and Jan. 2, the night before the attack on Caracas that ended with Maduro being scared.
All of those bettors have voted “YES” on contracts that say US troops will be in Venezuela by Jan. 31, 2026; that Maduro will no longer be in office on that day; that the US will attack that country in Jan. 31; or that President Donald Trump will use the War Powers Act against the country on that day, the lawsuit said.
After his bet paid off, giving him a return of twelve times his wager, Van Dyke allegedly transferred most of his winnings to a foreign cryptocurrency exchange before depositing it into a new online trading account, the DOJ said.
When media sources reported unusual trading in Maduro-related contracts at Polymarket — matching the amounts mentioned in the indictment that Van Dyke bet and won — “Van Dyke then took steps to conceal his identity as a trader in Maduro- and Venezuela-related markets,” the DOJ said.
“On or about January 6, 2026, for example, Van Dyke asked Polymarket to delete his Polymarket account, falsely claiming he had lost access to the email address the account was associated with,” the DOJ said.
“On that day, Van Dyke changed the email registered to his cryptocurrency exchange account to an email address not registered in his name, and created it on or about December 14, 2025.”
Trump, when asked by a reporter at the White House on Thursday about the arrest of Van Dyke and other charges of alleged insider trading in the prediction markets, said, “You know the whole world, unfortunately, has become a casino.”
“And you look at what’s happening around the world, in Europe and everywhere, they’re making these bets,” Trump said. “I’ve never really liked it. I don’t like it mentally, but it is what it is … I’m not happy about any of those things.”
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., “is an investor and an unpaid consultant for Polymarket, and a paid consultant for Kalshi, two major prediction markets,” the New York Times said in a January report.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, in a statement about Van Dyke’s arrest, said, “Our men and women in uniform are trusted with confidential information to carry out their duties as safely and efficiently as possible, and they are not allowed to use this sensitive information for financial gain.”
“Wide access to the prediction markets is new, but federal laws protecting national security information are in full effect,” Blanche said.
