Kalshi has permanently banned former U.S. Representative George Santos after its Compliance Department found “reasonable cause to believe” he engaged in insider trading and market manipulation. Santos traded in markets tied to whether he would attend the State of the Union address, earning $17,839.57. He faces a $71,356 penalty. The ban follows a CFTC settlement in which Santos paid $35,000 without admitting or denying findings. Santos was expelled from Congress in 2023 and later sentenced to over seven years in prison before President Trump commuted his sentence in October 2025.
Prediction-market exchange Kalshi has permanently banned former U.S. Rep. George Santos from accessing the platform after its Compliance Department found “reasonable cause to believe” that he engaged in insider trading and market manipulation. The lifetime ban, effective August 28, 2026, is the first permanent penalty of its kind imposed by Kalshi on a user.
According to the official compliance document, Santos traded in markets linked to whether he would attend the State of the Union address on February 24, despite being prohibited because he could influence the outcome. He placed large trades between February 2 and February 25 in contracts whose results depended on his own attendance.
The platform said Santos materially earned $17,839.57 from the targeted markets. Alongside the permanent suspension, the Compliance Department imposed a $71,356 penalty.
In response, Santos took to X to attack Kalshi, accusing it of violating its own notices and deadlines. He said the August 7 notice allegedly gave his side 30 days before the latest action, asking why the exchange had announced “frivolous nonsense” before that period was over. “Leaking and attention seeking seem to be the M/O of this organization. Pathetic!”
The action follows a settlement Santos reached last month with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has said it has jurisdiction over prediction markets. He agreed to pay $35,000 but did not admit or deny the agency’s findings. His counsel, Joseph W. Murray, said Santos cooperated with the CFTC.
The former congressman was expelled from the House in 2023 after facing federal charges. In April 2025, he was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud and identity theft. In October, Trump announced that he had commuted the sentence, and Santos was released after serving less than three months.
Kalshi had previously suspended three U.S. political candidates after finding they bet on election outcomes they were directly involved in, calling the activity “political insider trading.” Prediction-market platforms face growing scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers. Last month, Baltimore officials sued Kalshi and Polymarket, alleging that their sports prediction contracts amount to unlicensed sports betting.
