The Department of Justice has charged a US Army soldier in a Polymarket insider trading case.
He allegedly used classified intelligence to win roughly $409,881 by betting on the January capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.
US Soldier Turned $33,000 Into $400,000 on Polymarket Using Classified Intel
According to a Justice Department indictment unsealed, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a 38-year-old stationed at Fort Bragg, turned about $33,034 into approximately $410,000 across 13 prediction market bets before allegedly trying to erase his trail.
“Gannon Ken Van Dyke allegedly betrayed his fellow soldiers by utilizing classified information for his own financial gain. Van Dyke profited more than $400,000 by trading various outcomes related to Venezuela after learning of the operation because of his role as a US Army soldier,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr said.
The US soldier was involved in planning and executing “Operation Absolute Resolve.” The early morning January 3 mission captured Maduro and his wife in Caracas.
Van Dyke, who reportedly used the Polymarket handle “Burdensome-Mix,” started placing Polymarket wagers on December 27, 2025, days before the operation went live.
All 13 bets took “YES” positions on Maduro and Venezuela-related contracts. They included “Maduro out by January 31” and “US Forces in Venezuela by January 31.” The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said Van Dyke bought more than 436,000 “Yes” shares of the Maduro contract alone.
After making a profit, Van Dyke allegedly moved most of the proceeds to a foreign crypto vault, changed his exchange email to an alias, and asked Polymarket to delete his account.
The US soldier faces five counts. They include three violations of the Commodity Exchange Act, as well as wire fraud and an unlawful monetary transaction. Each CEA count carries a maximum of 10 years, while each wire fraud count carries a maximum of 20 years.
The CFTC has also filed a parallel complaint in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The agency is seeking restitution, trading bans, and civil penalties.
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Polymarket has faced mounting pressure this year over wallets making precisely timed bets on geopolitical events. Suspected insiders allegedly profited hundreds of thousands on contracts linked to the Iran conflict and the Maduro operation.
The complaint breaks new ground for the CFTC, delivering both its first event-contract insider trading charge and its application of the “Eddie Murphy Rule” covering misused federal information.
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