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Former US Congressman George Santos has been permanently banned from trading on the prediction market platform Kalshi. The company alleged that Santos, who was expelled from Congress following a series of fraud and identity-theft charges, placed bets in February related to his own attendance at US President Donald Trump's State of the Union address, according to a notice of disciplinary action.
Kalshi stated that its compliance team concluded that Santos's activity showed signs of insider dealing, prompting the lifetime ban. The company emphasized that it was acting independently without waiting for external enforcement action. Santos responded on X by thanking Kalshi for the ban and remarked, "Let's see how much longer you guys are around for."
In 2025, Trump ordered the release of Santos, who had been sentenced to a seven-year prison term for wire fraud and identity theft, after serving only three months. In July, Santos agreed to pay $35,000 to settle a federal investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission into his State of the Union trades. Kalshi alleged that Santos used non-public information to place bets and issued a penalty of $71,356. The case has drawn attention to the compliance challenges facing prediction markets as they gain popularity and come under greater scrutiny from regulators.