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George Santos fined, temporarily banned from Kalshi prediction market
MS NOW • • business
Key Points:
- Former Republican congressman George Santos agreed to pay over $35,000 in fines and is temporarily banned from trading on the prediction market Kalshi after federal regulators found he unlawfully manipulated the market.
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) imposed a $17,500 civil penalty and required Santos to forfeit $17,570 in profits related to trades on whether he would attend President Trump’s State of the Union address.
- Santos placed trades predicting he would not attend the speech despite publicly indicating he planned to, then announced on the night of the event that he would miss it, prompting Kalshi to report the suspicious activity to federal authorities.
- Santos settled the case without admitting wrongdoing, choosing a prompt resolution over prolonged litigation, while the CFTC continues to prioritize enforcement in the growing prediction market industry, especially regarding insider trading.
- Santos, expelled from Congress in 2023, has faced multiple legal issues, including a prison sentence commuted by Trump in 2025 for unrelated fraud and identity theft charges.
