A U.S. Army soldier has been charged with using classified military information to profit from bets on Polymarket, generating approximately $410,000 in illegal gains. According to reports from The National News Desk, Gannon Ken Van Dyke allegedly made more than $400,000 by trading on event-based contracts tied to a planned U.S. military operation in Venezuela. Prosecutors claim he used nonpublic intelligence about the timing of the operation to place a series of winning bets, applying traditional insider trading frameworks to this relatively new category of event-based markets.
Between late December 2025 and early January 2026, Van Dyke placed 13 bets on Polymarket predicting outcomes such as U.S. military involvement in Venezuela and Maduro's removal from power by specific dates. As reported by The National News Desk, he wagered roughly $33,000 across these positions while in possession of classified information. After the operation was announced publicly in early January, the markets resolved in his favor, generating profits of approximately $410,000. Authorities allege Van Dyke then attempted to conceal the profits by moving funds through a foreign cryptocurrency account and later transferring them into a brokerage account. He also allegedly tried to delete his Polymarket account and obscure his identity after media reports highlighted suspicious trading activity tied to the operation.
Van Dyke, who is stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, faces multiple charges including unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction. According to The National News Desk, FBI Director Kash Patel emphasized that "no one is above the law" and that "any clearance holders thinking of cashing in their access and knowledge for personal gain will be held accountable." Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that "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."
The case follows earlier concerns about trading behavior on prediction markets, including clusters of wallets that made over $1 million betting on military strikes involving Iran in March. According to AMBCrypto, while no direct link has been established between those accounts and the current case, the findings raised questions about whether some traders may be acting on privileged or nonpublic information. The charges come amid ongoing debate over how prediction markets should be regulated in the United States, with agencies including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and various state regulators continuing to assess whether such platforms fall under derivatives law, gambling frameworks, or a new regulatory category altogether. The National News Desk reports that "widespread access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, but federal laws protecting national security information fully apply."
