US federal authorities have arrested Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a US special operations soldier involved in the January mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, on allegations that he used classified information to place bets on the operation.
Kalshi recently fined and suspended congressional candidates for betting on their own elections, but this is believed to be the first-ever arrest and indictment linked to prediction market insider trading.
Prosecutors allege that Van Dyke placed over US$33,000 in bets on the predictions platform Polymarket just before Maduro’s capture was announced, which reportedly returned him more than US$409,000.
Van Dyke has been charged with offenses including unlawful use of confidential information for personal gain, theft of government information, commodities fraud, and wire fraud.
