On Thursday, the Department of Justice announced that a U.S. soldier had been charged with a litany of crimes.
According to the DOJ, a U.S. Army soldier was hit with charges of “unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction.”
The soldier was identified as Gannon Ken Van Dyke.
The charges stem from an alleged scheme in which Van Dyke used sensitive classified information to make bets on what’s known as a “prediction marketplace” — Polymarket, in this case — where bettors can wager on a variety of non-traditional items, such as whether or not the Jan. 3 U.S. military operation targeting Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro would be successful.
Van Dyke allegedly made such a bet and received a handsome payout of over $400,000.
The accompanying statements with the DOJ release showed that the department was taking this matter very seriously.
“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,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
“Widespread access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, but federal laws protecting national security information fully apply.”
“Today’s announcement makes clear no one is above the law, and this FBI will do whatever it takes to defend the homeland and safeguard our nation’s secrets,” FBI Director Kash Patel added.
“Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York said.
But while Blanche, Patel, and Clayton are treating this situation with some semblance of gravity, the president didn’t appear nearly as concerned:
Reporter: There was a special forces soldier involved in the capture of Maduro who was arrested on suspicion of insider trading. Are you concerned that federal employees are betting on these reduction markets and potentially getting rich?
Trump: Well, I don’t know about it. Was… pic.twitter.com/zmPNGuVL1s
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 23, 2026
“Mr. President, apparently there was a Special Forces soldier who was involved in the capture of Venezuelan President Maduro, who was arrested by federal authorities today on suspicion of insider trading and betting on Polymarket,” a female reporter said during an Oval Office scrum. “Are you concerned that federal employees are betting on these prediction markets and potentially getting rich?”
“Well, I don’t know about it,” President Donald Trump responded. “But, was he betting that they would get him or they wouldn’t get him?”
When the reporter told Trump that it appeared Van Dyke had bet on Maduro’s removal from office, Trump quickly jumped back in.
“That’s like Pete Rose betting on his own team,” Trump quipped as officials laughed. “It’s a little like Pete Rose. They kept him out of the Hall of Fame because he bet on his own team.
“Now, if he bet against his team, that would be no good — but he bet on his own team,” Trump quipped.
“I’ll look into it.”
The 38-year-old Van Dyke was formally charged with three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act (each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison), one count of wire fraud (a maximum 20 year sentence), and one count of unlawful monetary transaction (10 years maximum).
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