Soldier pleads not guilty to insider trading on Maduro raid

Chris Dolmetsch and Patricia Hurtado, Bloomberg News on Apr 28, 2026

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NEW YORK — A U.S. Army special forces master sergeant pleaded not guilty to charges of trading on classified information about the operation to capture then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, entered the plea Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett in Manhattan. Prosecutors claim Van Dyke, who was involved in the planning and execution of Maduro’s capture, made $400,000 from Polymarket bets on whether the Venezuelan leader would be ousted.

Van Dyke, who was represented by lawyers Zach Intrater and Mark Geragos, will be released on a $250,000 personal recognizance bond co-signed by one financially responsible person, with his travel restricted to parts of North Carolina, New York and California. Van Dyke is on leave from the military, Intrater said.

Van Dyke is an “American hero” whose actions were “not a crime,” his lawyers said after the arraignment. Geragos — who has helped defend celebrities including Michael Jackson — said he looks forward to “vindicating” Van Dyke’s rights, and the defense plans to challenge the indictment and the jurisdiction.

Disputed wagers

“He has spent virtually 98% of his adult life serving this country in an exemplary manner,” Geragos said. “He’s reached the apex of that service and with any luck we will return him quickly to where he belongs, which is protecting the world, frankly, from all kinds of threats.”

The case comes amid concerns about possible insider trading related to the Iran War. The White House has warned its staff against making bets on government information, and Polymarket was criticized for allowing wagers on whether downed U.S. pilots would be rescued.

Prosecutors say Van Dyke created and funded a Polymarket account around Dec. 26 and began trading on contracts tied to whether Maduro would be out as Venezuela’s leader. He allegedly placed about 13 bets from Dec. 27 through the evening of Jan. 2 all taking “YES” positions on various Maduro-related questions posed by the trading platform.

According to prosecutors, hours after Maduro’s Jan. 3 capture, a photo of Van Dyke “on what appears to be the deck of a ship at sea, at sunrise wearing U.S. military fatigues, and carrying a rifle, standing alongside three other individuals wearing U.S. military fatigues” was taken and uploaded to his Google account.

Closed out

That same day, Van Dyke cashed out his bets, sent the proceeds to a “foreign cryptocurrency ‘vault,’” and asked Polymarket to delete his account, prosecutors allege.

After the charges were announced, Polymarket said it cooperated with the investigation after it identified a trader using classified information and referred the matter to authorities.

If convicted of wire fraud, the most serious of the four counts against him, Van Dyke faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. He is scheduled to return to court on June 8.

The case is U.S. v. Van Dyke, 26-CR-156, US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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With assistance from Bob Van Voris and Anthony Lin.

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