George Santos, who was expelled from the U.S. House of Representatives, arrives for the sentencing in his criminal corruption charges at Central Islip Federal Courthouse in Central Islip, New York, April 25, 2025.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
The prediction market platform Kalshi announced on Monday it has permanently banned former Republican Rep. George Santos and fined him $71,356 for allegedly using the app to trade on his own attendance at this year’s State of the Union address.
In the weeks leading up to President Donald Trump‘s speech in February, Santos, who represented New York’s 3rd Congressional District from January 2023 until his expulsion from Congress later that same year, allegedly made more than $17,000 by betting on whether he would attend.
In the weeks leading up to the event, Santos “began making a series of public statements regarding his attendance at the event in an attempt to influence the price of Yes and No contracts, respectively. Some of these included false or misleading statements,” according to a Kalshi announcement of the disciplinary action, released Monday. Those actions violated the company’s rules on trading on non-public information, Kalshi said.
In one X post from days before Trump’s address, Santos said: “I’m going to be there for the State of Union in the gallery, guys.” On the day of the State of the Union, Santos posted he was watching from the airport.
Santos shot back at Kalshi on Monday in a post to X.
“Hey @Kalshi thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform. Let’s see how much longer you guys are around for,” the former lawmaker wrote, ending the post with a “kiss mark” emoji.
Kalshi’s disciplinary action is not the first time Santos has drawn fire for the incident.
After Kalshi detected his trades and referred him to federal investigators, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in July ordered Santos to pay $35,000 for trading on State of the Union attendance. The federal regulator also banned Santos from trading for three years. Santos at the time shared a statement from his lawyer saying he had settled without admitting to any of the CFTC’s findings.
In June, amid the federal investigation, Polymarket, a rival prediction market platform, ended its paid relationship with Santos, who had been working as an online influencer for the company.
Before Santos was sworn into office in 2023, doubts about his biography had emerged. His time in Congress was punctuated by a House Ethics Committee investigation that found “substantial evidence of wrongdoing.” He became the first member of the House to be expelled in more than 20 years.
Santos had also been sentenced to 87 months in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, though President Donald Trump commuted his sentence last fall.
Kalshi also announced settlements on Monday with three political candidates who traded on contracts related to their candidacies: a governor candidate in California, another gubernatorial hopeful in Maine, and a congressional candidate in North Carolina. All have to pay penalties and are banned from Kalshi for three years, but the company said all three complied with the investigations, unlike Santos.
While the candidates for California and Maine governor lost their races, Laurie Buckhout is the Republican nominee for the battleground North Carolina 1st Congressional District, where she faces Democratic incumbent Rep. Don Davis. Buckhout will have to pay a penalty of just under $2,600 for her trades.
“I bet on myself. Literally,” Buckhout said in a statement. “It was a dumb mistake, and as soon as I learned there was an issue, I worked to make it right. Safe to say my career as a Kalshi trader was short-lived.”
— CNBC’s Davis Giangiulio contributed reporting
Disclosure: CNBC and Kalshi have a commercial relationship that includes customer acquisition and a minority investment.
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