Overview
- Federal prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed charges Thursday against Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke, alleging he used classified plans for the Maduro raid to place bets on Polymarket, a site where people wager on real-world events.
- The indictment says he made about 13 wagers totaling $33,034 from Dec. 27 to Jan. 2 and profited roughly $404,000 to $409,000 when the markets resolved after the January 3 capture.
- He now faces counts for misuse and theft of government information, commodities and wire fraud, and an unlawful monetary transaction, and the CFTC filed a civil case seeking repayment, fines, and trading bans.
- Prosecutors say he tried to hide the money by withdrawing it the day of the operation, sending most to a foreign crypto wallet, opening a new brokerage account, and asking Polymarket to delete his account.
- Polymarket says it referred the trades to the Justice Department and updated market-integrity rules, and lawmakers are pressing new limits after other suspicious bets tied to Iran and U.S. elections raised similar concerns.