The Justice Department announced Thursday that it arrested Gannon Ken Van Dyke, an enlisted member of the U.S. Army’s special forces, for allegedly using “secret, non-public” information about the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro to gain more than $400,000. Polymarket business. A grand jury indicted him on five charges, including multiple violations of the Commodity Exchange Act.
Van Dyke is the first person to be charged with insider trading in the U.S. stock market. MPs have been express concern for months about the high possibility that politicians and civil servants could use non-public information to profit from trading on industry-leading platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi, which have exploded in popularity over the past year.
The arrest comes weeks after Justice Department prosecutors met Polymarket about the possible violation of local customs. In February, the Israeli authorities to be arrested two civilians, a reservist and a civilian, for allegedly leaking classified information by making bets on Polymarket related to military operations. Kalshi, Polymarket’s main rival in the US, recently to fine three politicians for breaking its insider trading rules, but did not report the violation for further enforcement to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the federal agency that oversees the futures markets.
After Van Dyke’s arrest was made public, Polymarket posted a statement on social media noting that it had “identified a user trading on classified government information” and “referred the matter to the DOJ and is cooperating with their investigation.” The company declined to comment further.
According to court documents, Van Dyke has been a member of the U.S. military since September 2008 and was promoted to the rank of sergeant major in 2023. At the time of the alleged business dealings, he was working at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and was assigned to oversee the Army’s Western Hemisphere Special Operations Command.
“I have been clear that anyone who engages in fraud, deceit, or insider trading in any of our markets will face the full force of the law,” CFTC chairman Michael Selig said in a statement. “The defendant was entrusted with classified information about US operations and yet took action that endangered US national security and put the lives of US service members in danger.”
The complaint alleges that Van Dyke was involved in planning and executing Maduro’s arrest and that he knew he was not authorized to share non-public information about US military operations. The complaint states that Van Dyke signed a nondisclosure agreement that prohibited him from disclosing sensitive or classified government information “by writing, word, conduct, or otherwise.” The complaint also alleges Van Dyke saved a screenshot to his Google account “showing the results of a fake intelligence query” showing how the US Special Forces maintains many classified files including “operational information not available to the public.”
On December 26, Van Dyke allegedly opened an account on Polymarket and took nearly $35,000 from his bank account before transferring it to a cryptocurrency exchange.
The next day, Van Dyke allegedly made his first Venezuela-related trade on Polymarket, placing just under $100 on a “YES” contract that US forces would be in Venezuela by January 31, 2026. Prosecutors accuse him of making 13 Venezuela-related transactions on the platform, seven of them – totaling hundreds of thousands of “YES” shares by … January 31, 2026.” In other words, Van Dyke stands to make a big profit if the Venezuelan leader steps down at the end of the month.
