Overview
- Federal prosecutors in Manhattan arrested Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke on Thursday and unsealed charges alleging he used secret details about the Maduro raid to place winning bets worth more than $400,000.
- Investigators say he helped plan and carry out the January 3 capture of Nicolás Maduro, then opened a Polymarket account in late December, placed about 13 “Yes” bets totaling roughly $33,000, and netted approximately $409,881.
- The indictment charges unlawful use and theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and an unlawful monetary transaction, exposing him to significant prison time if convicted.
- Prosecutors say he withdrew most winnings the day of the operation, sent the funds to a foreign crypto vault, moved money into a new brokerage account, and asked Polymarket to delete his account; Polymarket later alerted the Justice Department and said it cooperated.
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a parallel civil case seeking restitution, fines, and trading bans, a move that is likely to intensify scrutiny of crypto prediction markets and controls on officials with access to sensitive information.