US soldier from NC made big money betting on Maduro operation, prosecutors allege
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Army soldier allegedly had access to classified information about the Maduro operation.
- Prosecutors allege Gannon Ken Van Dyke netted $409,881 from Polymarket wagers.
- Van Dyke faces charges including Commodity Exchange Act violations and wire fraud.
Federal prosecutors say a U.S. Army soldier from North Carolina used classified information to bet on the mission that ultimately captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, allegedly made $400,000 on Polymarket, a prediction marketplace, during “Operation Absolute Resolve,” federal officials said. He helped plan the mission and is facing decades in prison, according to a Department of Justice press release.
Van Dyke was stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville late last year when he contributed to the mission plan “and had access to sensitive, nonpublic, classified information about that operation,” the DOJ press release said.
Prosecutors said by the end of December, Van Dyke was on Polymarket making bets related to Venezuela and Maduro.
The bets totalled around $33,000 and were placed on wagers that turned out to be true, The Miami Herald reported. That includes that the U.S. would enter the South American country — and Maduro would be ousted.
In early January, after President Donald Trump made the news public that Maduro and his wife were apprehended in Caracas, the Polymarket wagers started paying out.
Van Dyke allegedly netted $409,881 from the moves, and transferred the funds to a “foreign cryptocurrency vault” before “depositing them into a newly created online brokerage account,” prosecutors allege.
Federal prosecutors charged Van Dyke with three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud and one count of an unlawful monetary transaction.
No more smoke-filled casinos
Bets like these are a new wave of gambling. Smoke-filled casinos, penny slots and table games are replaced with wagering in the comfort of your own home.
Overall, these predictive markets mean that someone can bet on a myriad of different things. That even includes what President Donald Trump says during his speeches.
The volume of trades over what Trump would talk about during a Rocky Mount speech in December totaled over $1.1 million — from one site alone, The N&O reported.
When you bet in a casino, you’re normally taking on “the house.” But predictive markets instead connect people to enter future contracts with each other. The values for those contracts go up and down until the outcome is final.
That’s how you make your money — being on the right side of a contract.
Van Dyke isn’t the only one who has leveraged insider information to game the system.
A video editor for YouTube star MrBeast was fired after being accused of trading on “non-public information” received while working at Beast Industries, The News & Observer reported.
Kalshi, which is a marketplace similar to Polymarket, said the trades made on its site netted the MrBeast editor $5,400 in profit.
This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 1:54 PM with the headline "US soldier from NC made big money betting on Maduro operation, prosecutors allege."
