TechFlow News, April 26: According to CNN, the U.S. Department of Justice has charged U.S. Army Special Forces soldier Gannon Ken Van Dyke with illegally profiting over $400,000 by placing bets on the prediction market platform Polymarket regarding a U.S. military raid on Venezuela—using classified intelligence he accessed in his official capacity.
However, Trump appears to have shifted his stance on the matter. Upon learning that the soldier had bet on Nicolás Maduro’s downfall, Trump likened the incident to baseball legend Pete Rose betting on his own team to win—responding dismissively: “It’s like Pete Rose betting his team will win. If he’d bet his team would lose, that’d be bad—but he bet they’d win, and I’ll look into it.” Given Trump’s longstanding support for Rose, at least several Trump allies have stated Trump should pardon the soldier.
Earlier, when commenting on betting related to war-related events, Trump described the current global situation as “a bit like a casino,” suggesting that certain market trades may have strayed from normal investment logic and instead rely on information asymmetry—or even insider information. He also emphasized that he “has never been a staunch supporter of these prediction platforms.”
