Published: 18:44 BST, 31 August 2026 | Updated: 18:57 BST, 31 August 2026
Former New York Republican Congressman George Santos has been hit with a lifetime ban over trading on prediction market platform Kalshi.
Kalshi announced the move barring Santos from its platform on Monday and imposed a $71,356 penalty, citing insider trading.
Santos bet against his own attendance of Donald Trump's State of the Union address in February of 2026 after publicly stating he would attend but then failed to turn up.
He won $17,839.57 in profit from his bet, according to Kalshi.
The company said in a disciplinary action that its compliance department had found reasonable cause to believe the former lawmaker engaged in illicit trading.
'The Compliance Department found that Santos made these statements with the intent to manipulate the price of the Yes or No contracts that he intended to purchase. Ultimately, these statements did in fact manipulate the price of said contracts,' Kalshi said in a statement.
Santos responded to the ban on X Monday, writing: 'Hey @Kalshi, thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform,' before ominously adding: 'Let's see how much longer you guys are around for.'
The move comes as prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket have seen a rise in suspicious trading activity, presenting new compliance challenges as regulators and law enforcement intensify scrutiny of the growing sector.
Former Representative George Santos is pictured in the House chamber in January of 2023 when he was a lawmaker
US President Donald Trump speaks during a State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Santos was not the only political figure to be called out by Kalshi Monday.
Laurie Buckhout, the Republican nominee in North Carolina's swing seat First Congressional District, was also penalized for improperly trading on her own campaign and violating platform rules. She is being fined just under $2,600 and also suspended for three years.
Buckhout told CNN: 'I bet on myself. Literally. 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.'
Kalshi had reported Santos to the US Department of Justice in June after detecting suspicious trading activity from his account on the platform, a source told Reuters at the time.
