Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) claimed that corruption and insider trading are driving decision-making in the Trump administration, citing the arrest of a U.S. Army soldier who allegedly used classified information about the capture of Nicolás Maduro to profit on a prediction market.
“Corruption and insider trading are at the heart of Trump’s chaotic Iran war decisions,” Krishnamoorthi posted on X. “People around the Trump administration are playing in prediction markets and trading stocks — profiting off flipping war and peace — and it has to stop. I’m investigating. This illegal war must end.”
In a follow-up post later the same day, Krishnamoorthi highlighted the case of a soldier who bet on the very operation he helped plan:
“Just now, this came out — a soldier involved with the capture of Maduro bet on this very operation on Polymarket…this soldier probably just copying what he’s seeing elsewhere —> the culture of insider trading and corruption starts at the top and is permeating everywhere and everything. This is what people hate about our government now,” he wrote.
According to the Department of Justice, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a U.S. Army soldier stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was charged on April 23, 2026, with unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction.
The Justice Department indictment alleges that Van Dyke participated in the planning and execution of “Operation Absolute Resolve” — the U.S. military operation that captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January 2026. While having access to classified information about the operation, Van Dyke allegedly placed approximately 13 bets on Polymarket related to Maduro’s removal, U.S. forces in Venezuela, and Trump invoking war powers.
Van Dyke reportedly profited approximately $409,881 from those bets. He is accused of later attempting to conceal his identity by requesting that Polymarket delete his account and changing email addresses on his cryptocurrency accounts.
Krishnamoorthi, in a video statement included in his post, said the on-again, off-again nature of the Trump administration’s Iran policy raised suspicions that insiders were profiting from prediction markets and stock trades tied to war-and-peace decisions.
“Every day that we are at war is a bad day for America,” Krishnamoorthi added. “Not only because of the human and economic costs, but I think it goes against our national security interests.”