Special forces soldier who won $400,000 betting on Maduro's capture pleads not guilty
The U.S. Army special forces soldier who was indicted last week on charges of using classified information about the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to make more than $400,000 on the prediction market Polymarket pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Manhattan federal court and was released on bond.
Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke appeared in the same courthouse complex where Maduro appeared following the raid on his Caracas compound that Van Dyke helped plan and execute.
Judge Margaret Garnet asked how he pleaded to charges including unlawful use of confidential governmental information for personal gain.
"Not guilty, your honor," Van Dyke said.
He was accompanied in the courtroom by his attorneys, Zach Intrater, Mark Geragos and Tina Glandian, following his arrest last week at Fort Bragg, where he is posted.
Van Dyke is currently on leave from the Army. His ultimate military status is "unsettled," Intrater said.
The defense attorney said he expected few disputes over the factual allegations. Instead, Intrater said the case would "largely rise and fall" on motions to eliminate certain evidence and to dismiss the charges.
"This is anything but a usual case," Intrater said.
In what is believed to be the first case of insider trading on a prediction market, prosecutors alleged that Van Dyke used inside knowledge to place 13 bets on the outcome of the Maduro operation.
According to the indictment, Van Dyke opened a Polymarket account the day after Christmas and began placing bets on Dec. 27 through the evening of Jan. 2 -- hours before soldiers entered Venezuelan airspace for the pre-dawn operation. After Trump made the operation public that day, Van Dyke allegedly profited $409,881 from his $33,034 in bets.
Prosecutor Ryan Finkel said there were no plans to add defendants or bring additional charges against Van Dyke but said, "I would not entirely rule it out."
Judge Garnet released Van Dyke on a $250,000 personal recognizance bond. His travel is restricted to California, where his family lives, North Carolina, where he is posted and New York, where he is being prosecuted.
He has surrendered his firearms. Garnet said she would modify that condition if his military service required him to possess and use a gun.
Finkel said there is a "moderate" amount of evidence in the case including Polymarket records, bank transactions, cryptocurrency exchanges and email accounts. There could also be a certain amount of classified information that would require special handling.
"The events covered by the classified information have now occurred," Garnet said. She said the case would move faster "if evidence could be declassified to the greatest extent possible."
Van Dyke's next court date is Monday, June 8.
Following his arrest on Thursday, Van Dyke briefly appeared in a North Carolina courtroom on Friday. He signed a bond after acknowledging that he understood the charges and potential penalties.
His case is being overseen in New York by the same judge who is presiding over the high-profile federal case against alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione.
Amid mounting criticism of prediction markets for allegedly enabling insider trading, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan said his company is "constantly" monitoring for suspicious activity and referring cases to authorities. Coplan argued that the public nature of prediction markets makes it easier to crack down on insider trading.
"The transparency afforded by onchain markets makes global compliance more effective than ever. Every trade is public, permanent, and auditable. Bad actors leave a trail," he said.
