U.S. soldier arrested as Venezuela ghost returns amid Iran ceasefire

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Amid the ceasefire with Iran, the ghost of the Venezuela operation returned to the U.S.

On Apr. 23, the Department of Justice arrested and charged a U.S. Army soldier, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, for allegedly using non-public information to wager on the abduction of former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

The soldier engaged in insider trading by using classified information regarding the forthcoming U.S. operation in Venezuela to place $33,000 in contracts on Polymarket and pocket $400,000, the DoJ alleged.

Polymarket is the world’s largest prediction market. It lets traders predict events like future Bitcoin price, geopolitical events, election results, government shutdown, etc., by paying with cryptocurrency.

Van Dyke "was involved in the planning and execution" of the Venezuelan military operation and allegedly bought 13 Polymarket contracts such as U.S. forces landing in Venezuela, Maduro's abduction, and the invasion.

After winning the contracts, he withdrew the funds, converted them to a bridged version of USDC, transferred them to a foreign crypto vault, and started to move them into a brokerage account, as per the DoJ's filing.

The charges against Van Dyke include:

3 counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act

1 count of wire fraud

(a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison)

1 count of unlawful monetary transaction

(a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison)

FBI Director Kash Patel said, “Any clearance holders thinking of cashing in their access and knowledge for personal gain will be held accountable.”

More News:

Trump says the world is a casino

When a reporter asked U.S. President Donald Trump about insider trading on war-related prediction markets, he said the whole world has become "somewhat of a casino" unfortunately but he wasn't in favor of it.

“Are you concerned about insider trading on these prediction markets re: the war?”

TRUMP: “The world is a casino. It is what it is.” 🤷🏼

And there you have it, folks! pic.twitter.com/9fy5Z7T9CV
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) April 24, 2026

"I think that I’m not happy with any of this. They have predictive markets," the president said. "It’s a crazy world. It’s a much different world than it was."

Notably, the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., is an advisor to popular prediction market platforms, Polymarket and Kalshi.

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