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Santos lifetime ban
Kalshi permanently banned former U.S. Rep. George Santos for life after concluding its Compliance Department had “reasonable cause to believe” he engaged in insider trading tied to whether he would attend President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.
“reasonable cause" Santos placed his trades in a way that allowed him to make a $17,839 profit”
Kalshi said Santos was the first person to receive a lifetime ban, and it imposed a $71,356 penalty while also citing that he was “capable of influencing the outcome” of the underlying event.
The company said Santos turned a $17,839 profit on trading activity when he did not attend, after placing bets on whether he would attend and publicly discussing his intention to attend.
Santos responded on X with “Hey @Kalshi thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform. Let's see how much longer you guys are around for.”
Compliance and cooperation
Kalshi said its Compliance Department found Santos engaged in insider trading and that the lifetime ban was effective last Friday, preventing him from accessing Kalshi “directly or indirectly.”
Kalshi spokesperson Elisabeth Diana said the company’s lifetime ban was the first of its kind in its history, and she said other enforcement cases announced Monday would result in temporary bans because those affected “cooperated with Kalshi’s probe.”
In a separate statement, Kalshi’s head of enforcement and legal counsel Robert DeNault told CBS News that the company has a compliance team “to catch bad actors, punish them, and deter other people from doing it again.”
Santos also posted on X calling Kalshi “an unserious company” and labeling the ban “frivolous nonsense,” after Kalshi said he did not cooperate with its investigation.
Broader crackdown
Kalshi’s enforcement actions on Monday extended beyond Santos, including a $2,589 fine and a three-year ban for North Carolina congressional candidate Laurie Buckhout after she placed bets on her own race that she called a “dumb mistake.”
“a $2,589 fine and three-year ban against Buckhout”
The company also imposed three-year suspensions on Stephen Cloobeck and Ben Midgley, with Kalshi saying Cloobeck bought $10,000 worth of contracts on his candidacy for California governor and that Midgley bet less than $1,000 on his Maine governor campaign.
Kalshi said Buckhout admitted placing bets of less than $1,000 on her campaign, and Buckhout told reporters, “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.”
The crackdown comes as regulators have pursued prediction-market cases, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s settlement in which it ordered Santos to give back profits and fined him $17,500, and as Kalshi faces scrutiny over insider trading allegations.