Soldier Charged in Polymarket Insider Trading Case Pleads Not Guilty

A U.S. peculiar forces worker charged past week with insider trading for allegedly utilizing classified quality to spot winning bets connected Polymarket pleaded not blameworthy successful New York national tribunal Tuesday.

Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a 38-year-old Army Master Sergeant stationed astatine Fort Bragg, North Carolina, entered the plea connected Tuesday and was released connected $250,000 bond. He was ordered to surrender his passport and restrict his travel.

Van Dyke allegedly leveraged his beforehand cognition of Operation Absolute Resolve to spot astatine slightest 13 bets totaling astir $33,034. The wagers, placed betwixt December 27, 2025 and January 2, 2026, focused connected contracts predicting U.S. forces entering Venezuela and President Nicolás Maduro being unseated.

After the January 3 raid occurred arsenic Van Dyke allegedly knew it would, his bets generated $409,881 successful profits—and grabbed headlines arsenic speculation mounted implicit who was down the pseudonymous Polymarket account. The worker transferred his winnings to a overseas cryptocurrency vault that generates interest, prosecutors alleged, past moved the funds to a recently created brokerage relationship connected January 16.

Three days aft the operation, helium allegedly asked Polymarket to delete his account, falsely claiming helium had mislaid entree to his email address. Prior to his Polymarket activity, Van Dyke had been blocked from opening an relationship connected rival prediction level Kalshi successful precocious December 2025, a root acquainted with the substance told Decrypt.

The government's effect signals an assertive stance toward prediction marketplace misuse.

“Prediction markets are not a haven for utilizing misappropriated confidential oregon classified accusation for idiosyncratic gain,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, successful a statement past Thursday. “The suspect allegedly violated the spot placed successful him by the United States Government by utilizing classified accusation astir a delicate subject cognition to spot bets connected the timing and result of that precise operation, each to crook a profit.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche reinforced that national laws protecting nationalist information accusation afloat use to prediction markets, noting that wide entree to prediction markets is simply a comparatively caller phenomenon.

Following the charges, President Donald Trump told reporters past Thursday that helium was “never overmuch successful favor” of prediction markets, saying they’ve helped crook “the full world, unluckily [into] somewhat of a casino.”

Trump, however, walked backmost those comments connected Saturday erstwhile asked by Decrypt astir the captious statements regarding prediction markets.

“Well, I don’t know,” helium replied. “I cognize immoderate radical that are precise smart. They similar it, they disagree.”