Fort Bragg soldier charged over $409K Polymarket bets

Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, a U.S. Army soldier assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was indicted on five federal counts after prosecutors allege he used classified intelligence about Operation Absolute Resolve to place 13 bets on the Polymarket prediction platform that returned $409,881 from a $33,034 stake. The wagers were placed between Dec. 26, 2025, and Jan. 2, 2026, according to court filings.

U.S. special operations forces detained former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife at a Caracas residence in predawn hours on Jan. 3, 2026, and the government announced the operation later that day. Prosecutors say the timing and size of the returns prompted an investigation into possible misuse of nonpublic government information.

Van Dyke was charged with three counts under the Commodity Exchange Act, one count of wire fraud and one count of theft of nonpublic government information. The three commodities counts each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years and the wire fraud count carries up to 20 years, the Justice Department said. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a civil complaint the same day, and prosecutors said traditional insider trading laws apply to decentralized prediction markets such as Polymarket.

Court documents state the 13 wagers began with $33,034 in stakes and produced $409,881 in profits once the operation’s outcome became public. Filings say three days after the government announced the operation, Van Dyke contacted Polymarket requesting deletion of his account and falsely claimed he had lost access to the associated email address.

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton called the conduct a violation of the trust placed in the defendant by the U.S. government, saying, “Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain.” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche noted that federal laws protecting national security information apply to emerging crypto platforms and that enforcement will adapt. CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig warned that anyone who engages in fraud, manipulation or insider trading in any market will face the full force of the law and said the defendant’s actions endangered national security and service members.

Prosecutors allege the sequence of trades matched classified details about Operation Absolute Resolve, including specific timing windows that paid out after the public announcement. Filings link the account’s trading patterns to sensitive operational information, according to investigators.

Federal officials described the case as one of the first major prosecutions alleging insider trading on a crypto-based prediction market using classified U.S. government secrets. Authorities also pointed to other instances where on-chain analysis identified clusters of accounts profiting on prediction markets around major geopolitical events, drawing increased scrutiny from regulators.

The Justice Department and the CFTC said they will pursue criminal charges and civil remedies where confidential government information appears to have been used to gain an unfair advantage. The case is pending in federal court.