The Dictatorship
U.S. special forces soldier charged with using classified intel to win $400,000 bet on Maduro’s capture
Federal prosecutors have charged a U.S. special forces soldier with using classified intelligence to place winning bets worth more than $400,000 on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this year.
Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke allegedly accessed nonpublic details about a U.S. military operation targeting Maduro and used that information to make a series of wagers on the prediction market Polymarket, according to an unsealed indictment.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton said Van Dyke “violated the trust placed in him by the United States Government by using classified information about a sensitive military operation to place bets on the timing and outcome of that very operation, all to turn a profit.”
Van Dyke was directly involved in planning and executing the mission beginning in December 2025, giving him insight into the timing and likelihood of the operation’s success, according to prosecutors.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured in January during a predawn U.S. military seizure in Caracas, when special operations forces stormed their compound after months of intelligence gathering. The couple was quickly taken into custody, extracted under heavy security and flown out of Venezuela to the United States to face federal charges. The pair is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Authorities allege Van Dyke placed more than a dozen bets totaling upward of $33,000 in late December and early January, correctly predicting that Maduro would be removed from power by the end of the month. Those wagers ultimately generated profits exceeding $400,000.
Van Dyke then attempted to conceal his activity by routing the proceeds through cryptocurrency accounts and other financial channels.
Van Dyke, who was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, faces five criminal charges including theft of government information, wire fraud, commodities fraud and unlawful monetary transactions. Officials said he had signed multiple nondisclosure agreements prohibiting the release or use of classified material linked to the operation.
“Today’s announcement makes clear no one is above the law, and this FBI will do whatever it takes to defend the homeland and safeguard our nation’s secrets,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “Any clearance holders thinking of cashing in their access and knowledge for personal gain will be held accountable.”
The case underscores growing scrutiny of prediction markets and the potential for insider abuse, particularly when tied to geopolitical events.
“Prediction markets are not a haven for using misappropriated confidential or classified information for personal gain,” Clayton said. “That is clear insider trading and is illegal under federal law. Those entrusted to safeguard our nation’s secrets have a duty to protect them and our armed service members, and not to use that information for personal financial gain.”
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates prediction markets such as Polymarket, also filed a formal complaint Thursday against Van Dyke. The CFTC is seeking financial repayment, penalties and a permanent ban on trading activities, along with an injunction to prevent any future violations of federal commodities laws.
“I have been crystal clear that anyone who engages in fraud, manipulation, or insider trading in any of our markets will face the full force of the law,” said CFTC Chair Michael S. Selig.
When asked about Van Dyke’s indictment on Thursday, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he was not aware of the case, but referenced a former Major League Baseball player who was permanently banned in 1989 for betting on games, including those involving his own team.
“That’s like Pete Rose betting on his own team,” Trump said.
Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at BLN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.
The Dictatorship
Friday’s Campaign Round-Up, 7.10.26: Democrats pour into Maine race to replace Platner
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* In Maine’s closely watched Senate raceGraham Platner has until Monday to officially withdraw his Democratic candidacy. And according to multiple reportshe intends to wait until Monday to file the paperwork. It’s not at all clear why he’s dragging out the process.
In the meantime, the field of contenders hoping to replace him on the general election ballot is growing quickly. Former state Senate President Troy Jackson, for example, announced his candidacy less than an hour after Platner left the race. Dan Kleban, co-founder of Maine Beer Company, is also in, along with former gubernatorial hopeful Nirav Shah, who led the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention during the pandemic.
As Thursday progressed, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows joined the party’s field, as did Jordan Wood, who recently lost a competitive House primary race in the northern part of Maine.
Over the past 30 years, there have been only nine instances in which a major party replaced its Senate nominee. Two of those nine won.
* Despite credible concerns about Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s eligibility to run for governor in Alabama, a state judge this week dismissed a lawsuit that argued he does not meet the residency requirement to run.
* In Texas’ closely watched Senate raceRepublican Attorney General Ken Paxton raised over $9 million in the second quarter (spanning April through June), while Democratic state Rep. James Talarico raised a staggering $30 million over the same three months. According to The Texas TribuneTalarico’s haul “is a record total for a U.S. Senate candidate in the second quarter of an election year.”
* As Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s Republican gubernatorial campaign prepares for an Aug. 6 primary, the senator launched a new television ad this week that has been widely panned as racist.
* Rep. Mike Collins’ Republican Senate campaign in Georgia was already facing long oddsand it probably won’t help that the far-right congressman is now struggling with staffing issuesincluding the departure of two chiefs of staff.
* And while it’s undeniable that Republicans enjoy a financial advantage headed into the midterm electionsSenate Majority PAC, a super PAC aligned with the Senate Democratic leadership, and its affiliated nonprofit raised $147 million in the second quarter. That’s the best quarter it’s ever had.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was not the target of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation that resulted in his fatal shooting, Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Texas, told MS NOW.
Salgado, a Mexican immigrant who moved to the United States 35 years ago, was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Houston on Tuesday. According to Garcia, acting ICE Director David Venturella told her that neither Salgado nor his brother, who was in the vehicle with him, were the individuals that ICE officers were looking for. But Venturella “refused” to provide further information, Garcia said.
In a statement to MS NOW, a DHS spokesperson said that “officers conducted surveillance on a target’s address” where “they noted two white vans at the property. On July 7, officers were almost at the target’s address when they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target. Officers then initiated the vehicle stop.”
The New York Timesciting a DHS spokeswoman, also reported on Thursday that ICE officers had been looking for a different person.
The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences has ruled Salgado’s death a homicide.
How the incident escalated to result in Salgado’s killing is unclear. Three other men arrested in the operation have disputed in handwritten statements to The Washington Post the claim by DHS that Salgado “weaponized his vehicle” against an officer.
“That is a lie,” Jose Trinidad Rojas said. “It is impossible for them to say that they were going to get run over … there were no officers in front of or behind the vehicle. They were on the sides.”
The officers engaging in the operation were also not wearing body cameras, nor were there cameras on the car dashboard. A DHS spokesperson told MS NOW in a statement that officers had not been issued body cameras because of the government shutdowns over funding for the department, saying the process of acquiring the equipment for ICE field offices “was interrupted by the Democrats multiple government shutdowns.”
Salgado’s death has sparked a firestorm across the country. His family said he was in the process of obtaining his work permit and was en route to a construction site when he was killed.
They have also called for an independent investigation into his killing, pointing to the similarities in DHS’ claim about the circumstances of Salgado’s death to that of Renee Good’s in Minneapolis.
DHS has said its Office of Inspector General is probing the incident. A spokesperson for the FBI in Houston previously told MS NOW that it is “leading an investigation into the potential assault on a federal law enforcement officer.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Laura Barrón-López covers the White House for MS NOW.
Rosa Flores is a national correspondent for MS NOW.
Sara Weisfeldt is a field producer for MS NOW.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
Voters in Colorado haven’t elected a Republican governor in more than two decades, and now that this year’s GOP gubernatorial primary has been called, it seems the streak will continue for four more years. The Associated Press reported:
Marine Corps veteran Victor Marx won the Republican primary for Colorado governor on Thursday, inching past a state senator who had the establishment’s backing.
Marx, described as a “high risk humanitarian” and the fastest gun disarmer in the world, defeated Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, his stiffest competition, in the June 30 election.
The results were incredibly close, and as of the latest tallies, Marx’s lead over Kirkmeyer was only about half a percentage point. That said, the advantage was good enough for news organizations to call the contest.
For her party, Kirkmeyer thanked her supporters and volunteers in a statement Thursday evening, signing off by saying, “I’m still proud of the campaign we ran … and, for the record, I still haven’t killed anyone.”
That might sound like a strange thing to say, but in this case, it was highly relevant: According to Marx, who founded a group called All Things Possible Ministries, he had an abusive stepfather who effectively forced him, at just 7 years old, to kill a man.
Asked in May how many people he has killed since then, the GOP candidate paused before telling Kyle Clark, an anchor at the NBC affiliate in Denver, “Does it matter?” He went on to call it an “odd question.”
(For the record, there are lingering questions about whether Marx actually killed a man as a child, and according to local law enforcementthere are unsolved murders from that time period.)
In case that weren’t quite enough, in the same interview, Marx explained that he also performs exorcisms, which he added can be completed over the phone.
He did not appear to be kidding.
A recent Slate report noted that party insiders not only expect him to lose badly, they’re also concerned that having Marx at the top of the GOP ballot “could imperil other Republican seats in the statehouse and Congress, plunging the fractured, marginalized party into chaos.”
Marx will face Phil Weiser, the Democratic state attorney general, in November. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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