BroadChain learned that at 13:06 on April 26, U.S. Special Forces soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke was prosecuted by the Department of Justice for using classified intelligence obtained through his position to bet on a U.S. military raid in Venezuela on the prediction market platform Polymarket, illegally profiting over $400,000. Trump’s stance on this matter has shifted; he compared the soldier’s actions to baseball legend Pete Rose betting on his own team to win, stating that it would only be improper if he bet on losing, and said he would study how to handle the case.
Given Trump’s long-standing support for Rose, at least several allies have advocated for pardoning the soldier. Trump previously commented on war-related bets, saying the current global situation is “a bit like a casino,” implying that some market transactions deviate from normal investment logic, relying on information asymmetry or even insider information, and emphasized that he “has never firmly supported these prediction platforms.”