Gannon Ken Van Dyke is charged with three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud, and one count of unlawful monetary transaction.
A US Army Special Forces master sergeant has been arrested on federal charges alleging he used classified information to profit from prediction market wagers connected to a military operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the Department of Justice said Thursday.
Officials say Gannon Ken Van Dyke made roughly $400,000 of trades on Polymarket based on nonpublic information connected to the operation. Prosecutors allege he was directly involved in the mission that resulted in Maduro’s capture earlier this year. Van Dyke, 38, “participated in the planning and execution of the” operation to capture Maduro in early January, according to the DOJ. He was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where US Special Forces personnel involved in the operation were based .
He is charged with three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud, and one count of unlawful monetary transaction. If convicted on the wire fraud charge alone, he faces up to 20 years in prison, along with additional penalties on the remaining counts.
Van Dyke is expected to appear Thursday before a magistrate judge in federal court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
In a parallel case, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a civil complaint alleging Van Dyke used classified nonpublic information to place wagers on prediction markets tied to the Maduro mission.
Both the criminal and civil cases were filed in federal court in Manhattan.
The military operation has already led to separate legal proceedings in New York, where Maduro faces charges including narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and weapons offenses. His wife, Cilia Flores, faces cocaine conspiracy and weapons-related charges.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement, “Our men and women in uniform are trusted with classified information in order to accomplish their mission as safely and effectively as possible, and are prohibited from using this highly sensitive information for personal financial gain.”
He added, “Widespread access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, but federal laws protecting national security information fully apply,” Blanche
“Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain,” said US Attorney Jay Clayton. “The defendant allegedly violated the trust placed in him by the United States Government by using classified information about a sensitive military operation to place bets on the timing and outcome of that very operation, all to turn a profit.
"That is clear insider trading and is illegal under federal law. Those entrusted to safeguard our nation’s secrets have a duty to protect them and our armed service members, and not to use that information for personal financial gain. Our Office will continue to hold accountable those who misuse confidential or classified information in a way that undermines and exploits our national security.”
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