A U.S. special forces soldier who was involved in Operation Absolute Resolve, the attack that ultimately resulted in the capture of Venezuela’s sitting leader Nicolas Maduro, was charged on Thursday with using confidential government information about the raid to make more than $400,000 in online bets. Federal prosecutors allege Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a master sergeant with U.S. Army Special Forces, was involved in planning and carrying out the January raid from the beginning of December, and had access to classified information about the operation through its completion. The indictment claims that around December 26, a little over a week before the operation, Van Dyke made an account on Polymarket, and in the following days up until less than an hour before President Donald Trump reportedly signed off on the operation, placed over a dozen bets, totaling $33k, related to Maduro and Venezuela. These wagers apparently made him over $400,000. Prosecutors further claimed that once stories of suspicious Venezuela-related trading made news and were circulating on social media, Van Dyke made multiple attempts to conceal his connection to the Polymarket account. Lawmakers have since introduced a slew of legislation aimed at regulating prediction market platforms and banning bets on war, death and government decisions. Kevin Frankel, a partner at Benesch Law, joins “Forbes True Crime” to discuss.
