Trial date set for US soldier in $400K Maduro prediction market case

A federal judge on Monday tentatively scheduled the trial of US Army Special Forces soldier Master Sgt. Gannon Ken Van Dyke for Dec. 7.

He is accused of using classified information about the capture of then Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to earn more than $400,000 on the prediction market Polymarket.

Van Dyke pleaded not guilty in April to charges that he placed 13 bets using inside information about the Maduro operation and later tried to destroy evidence after profiting from the trades.

The case might become the first US insider-trading prosecution involving a prediction market to reach trial.

Prosecutors, according to ABC News, said they had "substantially completed" evidence disclosure and expect their case to take about a week. Defense lawyers said their case would take a "couple of days" and plan to seek dismissal of the indictment by July 31.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos argued that classified information central to the case would make prosecution difficult, saying prosecutors would need to prove "who was in the Situation Room at that time and who made the decision" to capture Maduro.

Van Dyke, who did not speak during Monday’s hearing, remains free on a $250,000 personal recognizance bond and is currently on leave from the Army, according to attorney Zach Intrater.

After the hearing, Geragos called the prosecution an "exercise in futility."

"There's only one person who could have ordered the operation -- that one person is the president. They are never, ever going to get the president to divulge when and how and what, so this is just an exercise in futility," Geragos argued.

The case comes amid growing scrutiny of prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi. Last month, New York prosecutors charged a Google employee with using confidential company information to make more than $1.2 million on Polymarket.