Soldier Uses Inside Raid Knowledge to Win Big
Former Venezuelan Dictator Nicolas Maduro
Report: U.S. Special Forces Soldier Charged for Betting on Raid of Venezuela Dictator Nicolás Maduro
Paul Bois
A soldier in the U.S. special forces who participated in the raid on Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro has been charged with allegedly betting on the operation.
The soldier, later identified as Gannon Ken Van Dyke, allegedly bet approximately $33,034 on the prediction market platform Polymarket toward the outcome of the raid, raking in a massive payday of $409,000. Van Dyke allegedly placed the bets while partaking in the “planning and execution of the U.S. military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro,” per the Justice Department.
“In total, Van Dyke made approximately 13 bets from Dec. 27, 2025, through the evening of Jan. 26,” the DOJ said, adding that he has been criminally charged with “unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction.”
The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said that the charges “arise from an alleged scheme in which Van Dyke used sensitive classified information to make wagers on Polymarket.”
According to NBC News, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates Polymarket, said it was also hitting Van Dyke with civil charges, adding that it will be seeking “restitution, disgorgement, civil monetary penalties, trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction against further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations.”
Polymarket said that it referred the matter to the DOJ after it identified the user trading on classified information.
Who does Van Dyke think he is, Nancy Pelosi? He got caught hiding his winnings in an unnamed foreign crypto-currency account, and then tried to cover his tracks when this raised red flags.
Category: Dick Stepping
I thought this was something politicians do and never get in trouble for???
He would have been pissed if this went sideways, and his desired outcome hadn’t been met.
Epic E4 Mafia behavior. Theoretically.
38 year old MSG/E8. Is that like a double E-4?
I’d go with that.
MSG? Not for long.
So he’s a Republican?
Most likely.
We know Democrats are never held accountable.
I am still waiting to see a Democrat ever brought to justice.
It does happen – or did in the past. Former congress critters Jesse Jackson Jr, and Corrine Brown to name a few went to the federal pen. Democrat malfeasance generally gets little national press coverage.
I would postulate that the gaming organization feels they were taken by the guy and turned him in. “Polymarket said that it referred the matter to the DOJ after it identified the user trading on classified information.”
My guess is they were not happy having to pay out.
The idiot placing the bets threw away his career and any other possibilities getting greedy. It does sound like the E-4 mafia, just not a good example.
Thank you for pointing out that the only reason this news even broke wasn’t because the government or military found out, but because the shady ass betting platform narc’d on him. Absolutely pathetic all around.
The government could put an end to this shit tomorrow by banning polymarket and kalshi tomorrow, but they won’t because they are benefiting from it.
So now the doj can go after all the rep and dems that inside trade on the stock market
They could, but how many of them benefitted from the same scheme? Kinda like i would bring charges, but jail ain’t big enough for all of us.
How did Polymarket know he had classified info? Did they just guess he must have known based on the size of his bets?
Probably the same way Vegas catches cheaters. You’re beating the odds way too much.
So, never bet over 10k?
This isn’t the first time that someone won big from betting on privileged information. Word going around is that about 12 years back, Phil Monkress that one of the executives in the Reston Branch of All Points Logistics would get his shit tossed in the street for bringing unwanted attention of Phil’s SEAL claims.
Master Sergeant, how do you plead?
SF supposed to have better trade craft. Not good look. Jeepers.
Recalling conversations with some priorSF acquaintances, this should have been an invisible team fundraising effort using cutouts. (Grin) Said one wag “No one gets greedy. No one goes hungry. No one goes to jail.”
I guess someone got greedy.
He isn’t a D-rat Congress critter, thus he doesn’t get away with it.
Pres ain’t happy about that stuff:
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/04/24/trump-on-betting-activity-tied-to-global-conflicts-im-not-happy-with-any-of-that-stuff/