NATIONAL NEWS – U.S. soldier arrested, accused of betting on Maduro’s removal, first person in U.S. charged Polymarket insider trading

On Polymarket Gannon,  Ken Van Dyke, a U.S. Army Special Forces Soldier, allegedly made thousands of dollars betting that former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro would fall from power. The soldier is accused of using classified information to bet on President Maduro’s removal from power, an operation that Van Dyke was directly involved in planning. He bet $32,000 and made a net $400,000 in profit.

Americans are banned from using Polymarket, but can access it with a VPN. Polymarket betters use cryptocurrency, which can help them remain anonymous. Authorities say he asked Polymarket to close his account after journalists and investigators had drawn attention to his activity. His emails to Polymarket were enough to incriminate him and connect him to his Polymarket account.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he condemns the practice of using classified information to profit on prediction market sites. The Trump administration has allowed Polymarket to open a separate U.S. exchange overseen by regulators in Washington. Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr. is an advisor to Polymarket.