[CYPHER CODE #1554]
If profiting off inside information is the crime, start with Congress.

[CYPHER CODE #1555]
The system always finds its courage when the target isn’t protected.

[CYPHER CODE #1556]
Maybe what he did was wrong. But the bigger outrage is who never gets charged.

[CYPHER CODE #1557]
This doesn’t look like equal justice. 

BRIEFING

Jett here. The DOJ wants a standing ovation because it arrested a Special Forces soldier for using inside information to bet on a mission he was part of. Fine. Tell the truth about what he’s accused of doing. But please, for the love of God, spare everyone the moral chest-thumping until Congress gets the same treatment. Let’s get into it.

According to the DOJ, Gannon Ken Van Dyke was part of the planning and execution of the Maduro operation, used classified nonpublic information to place a series of Polymarket bets on Maduro-related outcomes, profited roughly $409,881, then allegedly tried to cover his tracks by moving money and asking for the account to be deleted. That's the government’s case, and nobody has to pretend otherwise. If those facts are true, they do have something real to charge. I get it. But I'm still f**king pissed.

SOURCE

BREAKING: DOJ announces it has arrested a US Special Forces soldier who took part in the raid that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro after the soldier allegedly pocketed $400,000 by betting more than $30,000 on Maduro’s removal on Polymarket.

Name: GANNON KEN VAN DYKE

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) April 23, 2026

And I’m not the only one who's pissed. This case is making a lot of people furious. Because the DOJ suddenly wants to act really noble. They're saying you don’t get to use privileged information for personal gain. Great. Then prove you mean it. Apply that same standard to the people in Congress who’ve been getting rich off power, access, and perfect timing for years.

And if Congress is still allowed to profit off privileged information without raids, charges, and public humiliation, then this guy shouldn’t be charged either. Because at that point, it's not justice. It’s selective enforcement.

SOURCE

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, Acting Attorney General for the United States, Todd Blanche, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), Kash Patel, and Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the FBI, James C. Barnacle, Jr., announced today the unsealing of an Indictment charging GANNON KEN VAN DYKE, a U.S. Army Soldier, 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 charges arise from an alleged scheme in which VAN DYKE used sensitive classified information to make wagers on Polymarket, a prediction marketplace.  As alleged in the Indictment, VAN DYKE participated in the planning and execution of the U.S. military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro, called “Operation Absolute Resolve,” and VAN DYKE used his access to classified information about that operation to personally profit.  VAN DYKE will be presented today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian S. Meyers in the Eastern District of North Carolina.  The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett in the Southern District of New York.

[...]

VAN DYKE, 38, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, is charged with three counts of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of an unlawful monetary transaction, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding work of the FBI.  Mr. Clayton also thanked the United States Department of War, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.  Mr. Clayton also acknowledged Polymarket’s cooperation in this investigation.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force and National Security and International Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas W. Chiuchiolo, Ryan B. Finkel, and Juliana N. Murray are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Acting Deputy Chief Tanner Kroeger and Trial Attorney Eli Ross of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence & Export Control Section.

We've spent years watching members of Congress stroll into the Swamp, making a couple hundred thousand a year, and come out the other end millionaires ten times over. Somehow, all these politicians magically outperform the market, float through scandals, write their little disclosures, amend their little disclosures, and walk away cleaner than a dry-cleaned suit. Rep. Ilhan Omar is only the latest example of this bullshit scam. Her original 2025 disclosure showed assets tied to her husband’s businesses worth between $6 million and $30 million, but now, an amended filing shows the couple’s total assets down to between $18,004 and $95,000, with Omar’s office blaming an accounting error. Even The Wall Street Journal reported the correction came after scrutiny from the Office of Congressional Conduct. Ilhan is tied to the whole Somali fraud scandal, which nobody's been arrested for, by the way.

SOURCE

The Trump administration and House Oversight Committee Republicans have criticized Omar’s net worth jumping from a modest amount in filing year 2023 to at least $6 million in filing year 2024. The amended filings were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

By the numbers:

Omar’s financial disclosures, filed last year for filing year 2024, showed Omar’s husband, Tim Mynett’s two companies he co-owns, a winery and venture capital management firm, to be worth between $6 million and $30 million.

In an amended disclosure filed just weeks ago, the valuation of her husband’s two companies are now listed as "none." And shows the couple’s combined assets are worth between $18,004 and $95,000.

So that’s the problem. Not that this soldier didn’t do something technically “wrong.” That’s not what’s being said. The problem is how the system only seems to find its big “moral backbone” when the target is easy and totally reachable. When it’s a soldier, a regular American, or someone without a fortress of institutional protection, suddenly the law gets very loud, very proud, and very eager to make an example out of someone. But when it’s political elites playing the system or using our tax dollars to hide sex scandals, it’s a lot of shrugs, amended paperwork, ethics reviews, and another news cycle where nothing happens. And let me tell you guys, that’s not equal justice. It’s lawfare.

And this is where Pete Rose enters my rant... President Trump backed Pete Rose because he understood something normal Americans understand instantly: there is a difference between a guy betting on his own side to win and a corrupt establishment using “integrity” as a prop. Trump said Rose should be pardoned, and he said it while fully acknowledging that Rose broke the rules.

And President Trump gets it.

SOURCE

Trump responds to the DOJ arresting a U.S. soldier involved in Maduro’s capture who made $400,000 betting on his capture on Polymarket: “That’s like Pete Rose betting on his own team. They kept him out of the Hall of Fame. Now if he bet against his team, that would be no good.”

Trump responds to the DOJ arresting a U.S. soldier involved in Maduro’s capture who made $400,000 betting on his capture on Polymarket:

“That’s like Pete Rose betting on his own team. They kept him out of the Hall of Fame. Now if he bet against his team, that would be no good.” pic.twitter.com/MDlhFmMX3g

— The American Conservative (@amconmag) April 23, 2026

So Trump needs to make this right. Because no, this soldier isn't the biggest crook in the room. Not even close. He's a little fish in a filthy, swampy pond full of congressional grifters, insider traders, and regime-protected parasites who somehow never get the same knock on the door. If this administration is serious about justice, then start at the top. But if Congress keeps skating, then don’t expect people to cheer while the DOJ struts around for crushing one reachable guy and calling it some moral victory.

Gross.

DEBRIEFING

If Van Dyke broke the rules. Fine. Then charge him after the insider trading class gets charged. Charge him after Congress gets treated like the DOJ just treated him. Charge him after the people who've been turning public office into private enrichment finally feel one ounce of this same heat. Until then, this doesn't read like justice. It reads like the government is crushing the reachable guy while the protected class keeps cashing checks, writing books, and going on cable news, and it really f**king pisses me off.

I can't stand these political parasites on both sides of the aisle.

NOW YOU KNOW

The law looks brave when it targets the little guy.