A US Army special forces soldier who allegedly made $400,000 by wagering on classified information appeared in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday to deny fraud charges connected to his bets on Nicolas Maduro's ouster.
Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, a master sergeant stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, entered a not guilty plea before US District Judge Margaret Garnett. Van Dyke arrived in a black blazer and jeans, accompanied by his attorneys Zach Intrater and Mark Geragos.
Prosecutors say Van Dyke placed $33,000 in wagers on the prediction market Polymarket between late December 2025 and early January 2026. The bets targeted two outcomes: that Maduro would quickly leave office and that US forces would enter Venezuela. Both events carried low probability odds at the time, according to court documents, which made the eventual payouts substantially larger.
Van Dyke was arrested on April 23 after federal investigators learned he had helped plan and execute the January raid that captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Prosecutors allege he used nonpublic government information about the operation to place his trades before the broader public knew the raid was imminent.
The case represents a watershed moment in federal enforcement. This is the first insider trading prosecution brought by the US Justice Department involving a prediction market. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also filed a separate civil action against Van Dyke.
Van Dyke faces five criminal counts: unlawful use of confidential government information for personal financial gain, theft of non-public government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction.
Polymarket, the platform where Van Dyke made his bets, flagged his suspicious trading activity and alerted authorities. The platform cooperated fully with the investigation. Kalshi, a competing prediction market, had previously denied Van Dyke access to an account after its identity verification procedures raised red flags, according to reporting.
US Magistrate Judge Brian Meyers released Van Dyke on a $250,000 bond during his initial appearance in Raleigh, North Carolina. Judge Garnett will oversee the case moving forward.
Author James Rodriguez: "This case shows prediction markets are now firmly in regulators' sights, especially when high-stakes bets collide with classified operations."
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