Kalshi has permanently banned George Santos from its prediction market platform after the former New York lawmaker failed to cooperate with the company’s investigation into allegedly unlawful trades he made related to his attendance at the 2026 State of the Union address.
A Kalshi spokesperson said Santos is being banned due to “his lack of cooperation” with its compliance department, which established “reasonable cause” to believe he had engaged in insider trading over his attendance at the address.
Santos is the first person to receive a lifetime ban, the spokesperson confirmed. The prediction market also penalized him $71,356, a filing on the company’s website shows.
“Hey @Kalshi thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform,” Santos wrote on X on Monday. “Let’s see how much longer you guys are around for.”
In July, Santos agreed to pay $35,000 to settle a federal probe into his suspicious trades on Kalshi. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also imposed a three-year trading ban on Santos.
The CFTC alleged that between Feb. 12 and Feb. 25, Santos traded on a contract titled “Who will attend the State of the Union?” and on whether he would attend the event. Santos could influence the outcome of the event and so was prohibited from placing bets related to the State of the Union, according to a notice posted on Kalshi’s website.
However, Santos proceeded to make a series of trades linked to his attendance at the event and to make multiple public statements in an effort to influence the price of the prediction market contract, according to Kalshi.
$17,500 profit
“After these posts, the SOTU contract prices moved in a direction favorable to Santos’ positions which allowed him to make over $17,500,” the CFTC said in a July statement.
In March, Santos addressed complaints about his attendance at the State of the Union address on his podcast.
“I guess people lost money,” he said. “Some people made unexpected money. That’s to show you how fragile these markets are.”
Santos represented New York’s 3rd District in the House of Representatives before being expelled in 2023 after being charged with fraud and campaign finance violations. He was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft in 2024.
After serving just 84 days, however, he was ordered released by President Trump, who called Santos a “rogue” but said he did not deserve a harsh sentence and should get credit for voting Republican.
Insider trading allegations have become a flashpoint for prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket, which allow people to bet on the outcome of sports, elections and many other events. On Monday, Kalshi issued three other enforcement actions against people running for public office who bet on their own candidacy.
In August, the CFTC ordered a former White House teleprompter operator to pay $172,000 after the agency found that he made more than $100,000 on Kalshi bets related to presidential speeches that he had prior access to before they were delivered.
