According to the indictment released on April 23 (local time), Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke opened an account at the end of December 2025 on Polymarket, one of the most famous prediction markets. This US special agent bet about 32,000 USD that Mr. Maduro would leave office in January 2026. This bet had a very low win rate.
But prosecutors accused Van Dyke of being involved in planning and implementing Operation Absolute Resolve and having access to classified information before betting. Although this special agent's winnings were kept secret, they immediately attracted the attention of law enforcement.
Van Dyke is a serving soldier, stationed at Fort Bragg, facing 5 criminal charges for stealing and abusing government confidential information, theft and fraud. Van Dyke will appear in court for the first time in North Carolina. No lawyers have yet been named in the court records of this task force.
He is accused of placing 13 bets from December 27, 2025 to January 2, 2026, with the last bet taking place a few hours before being arrested on the night of January 2.
Prosecutors said Van Dyke had earned more than $400,000. Afterwards, he was accused of transferring the winnings to a cryptocurrency warehouse abroad before sending them to an online brokerage account. Prosecutors called the move an attempt to conceal the origin of the money.
Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke is a NCS officer, considered a key tactical leader and technical expert, often serving as the highest-ranking officer at the battalion level in the army. NCS officers are often seen as setting and maintaining standards for subordinates in the unit.
Those tasked with protecting our national secrets have an obligation to protect them and members of our armed forces, not to use that information for personal gain," said Jay Clayton, US prosecutor for Southern New York.
In a post on X social network, Polymarket said: "When we identified a user who traded based on government confidential information, we forwarded this issue to the Department of Justice and cooperated with their investigation. Internal transactions have no place on Polymarket. Today's arrest is evidence that the system works effectively.
