U.S. soldier pleads guilty to using intelligence on Maduro raid to win $400,000 bet

Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, entered a plea in Manhattan federal court to charges he unlawfully used confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud and conducting unlawful monetary transactions. Track the latest developments in the Iran-U.S. war

He was released on $250,000 bail, with travel limited to parts of New York, North Carolina, California and to and from necessary locations.

Prosecutors said evidence in the case will include grand jury subpoenas, cryptocurrency transaction records, search warrants and information generated from social media accounts.

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Defense attorney Zach Intrater told Judge Margaret M. Garnett that he doubted the “actual incident” would generate much controversy but suspected the case would rise and fall based on motions he filed on his client’s behalf.

The judge ordered Van Dyke to return to court on June 8 for a pretrial conference.

The case comes as prediction markets, which allow people to trade or bet on almost anything, are under intense scrutiny, with policymakers calling for tighter regulation of the platforms over concerns about insider trading.

The Trump administration has supported the expansion of the prediction markets industry. The president’s eldest son is an adviser to Polymarket and its main rival Kalshi, and is an investor in Polymarket. Trump’s social media platform Truth Social is launching its own prediction market called Truth Predict.

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Prosecutors said Van Dyke participated in the planning and execution of Maduro’s capture and signed a confidentiality agreement centered on the operation, but he ultimately made a series of bets that Maduro would step down on January 31.

According to a criminal complaint, bets totaled $33,000 over three days and resulted in “a profit of over $404,000.”

Polymarket, one of the largest prediction markets, flags suspicious activity and turns it over to the government, CEO Shayne Coplan said.

Van Dyke, who is stationed at Fort Bragg near Fayetteville, North Carolina, was released on bail after a court hearing in North Carolina last week and will continue his case in New York. He was represented in court by attorney Zach Intrater.