A U.S. Army Special Forces master sergeant pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Manhattan federal court to charges he used classified intelligence about the capture of Nicolas Maduro to profit on the prediction market Polymarket. Prosecutors say he cleared more than $400,000 on the trades in what authorities describe as the first criminal insider-trading case involving a U.S. event-betting platform.
Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, entered the plea before U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett.
He faces a total of five counts: unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and an unlawful monetary transaction.
Van Dyke, an active-duty soldier since 2008, is on leave from the military, his attorney told the court.
Prosecutors say Van Dyke, stationed at Fort Bragg, helped plan and execute Operation Absolute Resolve, the predawn Jan. 3 raid that seized Maduro and his wife at a residence in Caracas.
The indictment says he had signed nondisclosure agreements that barred any disclosure or personal use of classified material related to the mission.
Beginning Dec. 27, prosecutors allege that Van Dyke placed roughly 13 wagers totaling about $33,034 on Polymarket contracts asking whether Maduro would be out by Jan. 31, whether U.S. forces would be in Venezuela, whether the U.S. would invade, and whether President Donald Trump would invoke war powers.
Polymarket is a decentralized prediction market platform where users trade "shares" in the likely outcomes of real-world events, such as elections, economic data, sports, news, and more, using USD Coin, a stablecoin.
The contracts resolved "YES" after Trump announced the operation, and Van Dyke allegedly cleared about $409,881.
The same day as the raid, prosecutors say, he withdrew most of the proceeds, routed the funds through a foreign cryptocurrency vault, and deposited them in a new brokerage account.
On Jan. 6, the indictment alleges, he asked Polymarket to delete his account, falsely claiming he had lost access to his email, and switched the email tied to his crypto exchange to one created weeks earlier under another name.
Polymarket, operated by Blockratize Inc. and headquartered in Manhattan, flagged the activity and referred it to prosecutors, CEO Shayne Coplan said. The company posted on X that insider trading has no place on the platform and called the arrest proof that its system works.
Defense attorney Zach Intrater told Garnett the case would likely turn on legal arguments rather than disputes over what happened.
"This is anything but a usual case," he said. Garnett released Van Dyke on conditions including surrender of his passport and firearms and set a June 8 pretrial conference.
Maduro and his wife, who were flown to the United States after the raid, face cocaine trafficking charges in Manhattan federal court and have pleaded not guilty.
The prosecution is the first U.S. criminal case tied to wagers on a prediction market.
Congress and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which filed a parallel civil action against Van Dyke, weigh tighter rules for platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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