DOJ charges US soldier with using classified information to win $400,000 in Polymarket Maduro capture bet

The US Department of Justice alleges to have found the suspicious trader who made nearly half a million dollars betting on Nicolás Maduro’s ouster in January.

On Thursday, federal authorities charged 38-year-old Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a master sergeant with the US Army Special Forces, with using classified information in the capture of the Venezuelan president.

Van Dyke was involved in planning and executing Maduro’s removal, known as Operation Absolute Resolve.

He’s accused of using knowledge of the operation to profit from several markets on the prediction market Polymarket, earning him more than $404,000 in illicit profits, a civil complaint from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said.

The CFTC is seeking penalties, disgorgement and a ban on Van Dyke from trading on regulated markets again.

He faces three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud, and one count of an unlawful monetary transaction, according to the DOJ.

“The defendant allegedly violated the trust placed in him by the United States government by using classified information about a sensitive military operation to place bets on the timing and outcome of that very operation, all to turn a profit,” US Attorney Jay Clayton of the Southern District of New York said.

“That is clear insider trading and is illegal under federal law.”

Insider trading 

Polymarket, a popular prediction market that’s been under pressure over insider trading allegations, was quick to celebrate the action on social media.

“Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today's arrest is proof the system works,” the company said on Thursday.

Polymarket lets users bet on the outcome of a wide variety of events, including sports games, whether the Federal Reserve will slash interest rates, or what a Fortune 500 CEO might say during an earnings call.

From December, the platform also hosted four different so-called event contracts related to Venezuela and the defenestration of its president.

Under the handle “Burdensome-Mix,” Van Dyke allegedly bet approximately $33,000 across all four of these event contracts in December and January, leading up to the removal of Maduro on January 3.

CFTC Commissioner Michael Selig, whose agency oversees regulated commodities exchanges to which prediction markets fall, also commended the action.

He, too, has faced stiff criticism for failing to take a firm enough stance on alleged insider trading on prediction markets this year.

He has rejected this criticism publicly.

“I’ve been crystal clear: anyone who engages in insider trading in any of our markets will face the full force of the law,” he said on Friday morning.

Liam Kelly is DL News’ Berlin correspondent. Contact him at liam@dlnews.com.