A U.S. special forces soldier who participated in the U.S. raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was arrested and charged for using classified information to bet on the ouster via the prediction market company Polymarket.
The Department of Justice announced Thursday that Gannon Ken Van Dyke faces several charges for using insider information gleaned from his participation in “Operation Absolute Resolve.” These charges include unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud and making an unlawful monetary transaction.
“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,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the announcement. “Widespread access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, but federal laws protecting national security information fully apply.”
Prosecutors alleged that Van Dyke used information about the operation to make timely bets on Polymarket that netted him upwards of $400,000 — specifically that Maduro would lose power by the end of January. Maduro was captured on Jan. 3.
Trending
The DOJ announcement alleges that Van Dyke tried to cover his tracks by sending most of his earnings to a foreign cryptocurrency account before depositing it into a newly created online brokerage. He also tried to delete his PolyMarket page by claiming he lost access to his email account.
Author
