By Jasper Ward and Luc Cohen
U.S. Justice Department logo is seen at Justice Department headquarters in Washington
WASHINGTON, April 23 (Reuters) - A U.S. Army soldier involved in planning the capture of Nicolas Maduro has been charged with making $400,000 by betting on the removal of the ousted Venezuelan leader, the Justice Department said on Thursday.
In the weeks leading up to Maduro's January 3 capture, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a Master Sergeant with U.S. Army Special Forces, used sensitive classified information to make wagers on prediction market Polymarket that U.S. forces would enter Venezuela and that Maduro would be out of power.
A grand jury in Manhattan federal court indicted Van Dyke, 38, on 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 case appeared to mark the first time the department had brought insider trading charges involving a prediction market.
"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 U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.
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Defense attorney information for Van Dyke was not immediately available. He is expected to be presented before a judge in North Carolina later on Thursday, the Justice Department said.
The Pentagon deferred comment to the Justice Department.
Asked by reporters about the arrest, President Donald Trump said he was not familiar with the case but that it reminded him of Pete Rose, who was banned from Major League Baseball over a gambling scandal.
"That's like Pete Rose betting on his own team," Trump said. "If he bet against his team, that would be no good, but he bet on his own team. I'll look into it."
In a post on X, Polymarket said it had referred the matter to the Justice Department. "Insider trading has no place on Polymarket. Today's arrest is proof the system works," the post read.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington and Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Michelle Nichols, Christian Martinez and Bill Berkrot)
