A US soldier has been charged with using inside information to win US$400,000 in an online betting market on Venezuelan President Maduro’s capture, federal officials announced on Thursday.
Gannon Ken Van Dyk was part of the work to capture Maduro in January and used his access to classified information to make money on the prediction market site Polymarket, the federal prosecutor’s office in New York said.
Van Dyk was a senior enlisted soldier who was part of the special forces community and stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina, according to the indictment, but it offers few other details about his military service.
He has been charged with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of non-public government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction.
The Pentagon referred questions on the case to the Army and the Department of Justice. US Special Operations Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Van Dyke joined the Army in 2008 and, in 2023, was promoted to the rank of Master Sergeant, the second-highest enlisted rank in the Army, according to the indictment.
