Kalshi Bans Former Rep. George Santos For Life Over Insider Trading Linked To Trump State Of The Union

Kalshi bans ex-Congressman George Santos for life after concluding he likely was insider trading NEW YORK (AP) — The online prediction market platform Kalshi said Monday that it has permanently banned former U.S. Rep. George Santos for his bets on whether he’d attend the State of the Union address and has fined and temporarily banned North Carolina congressional candidate Laurie Buckhout for bets she now calls a “dumb mistake.” The company announced the ban on Santos, a Republican, after its Compliance Department found reasonable cause to believe Santos engaged in insider trading, contributing to speculation over whether he would attend the address before turning a $17,839 profit on his trading activity when he did not. Kalshi spokesperson Elisabeth Diana said it was the first permanent ban in the company’s history. She said those affected by four other new enforcement cases announced Monday would be banned from trading temporarily because they cooperated with Kalshi’s probe. The company also levied a $2,589 fine and three-year ban against Buckhout, a Republican and retired colonel who’s running against Democratic Rep. Don Davis in a swing district in northeastern North Carolina, and three-year bans on failed candidates for governor in California and Maine. Kalshi said Buckhout admitted placing bets of less than $1,000 on her campaign. “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,” Buckhout said in a statement. “Safe to say my career as a Kalshi trader was short-lived.” The lifetime ban, effective last Friday, on Santos prevents him from accessing Kalshi’s platform directly or indirectly. The site also imposed a $71,356 penalty. The convicted ex-congressman had repeatedly discussed his intention to attend the State of the Union, which came just four months after he was granted clemency by President Donald Trump in a fraud case that led to his expulsion from the U.S. House. On the eve of Trump’s speech, Kalshi put the odds of Santos attending at close to 75%. Then, minutes into the speech, Santos posted on X that he had been waylaid at the airport. Immediately, several social media users accused him of running another scheme. An email seeking comment from Santos on Monday was not immediately returned. On X, Santos called Kalshi “an unserious company” and labeled the ban “frivolous nonsense” in one post and, in another, said “thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform,” adding: “Let’s see how much longer you guys are around for.” Kalshi’s Compliance Department said Santos was prohibited from trading over his attendance plans because he was capable of influencing the outcome. Yet, it added, he placed several large bets between Feb. 2 and Feb. 25 on whether he would attend and then spoke publicly to influence the price of the bets, including making “false or misleading statements.” A month ago, Santos agreed to pay $35,000 to settle a federal investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission into the trades. The federal probe prompted rival online prediction platform Polymarket to cut ties with Santos in June. In March, Santos addressed complaints about his attendance at the State of the Union address on his podcast. “I guess people lost money,” he said. “Some people made unexpected money. That’s to show you how fragile these markets are.” Santos, who won office after inventing a bogus persona as a Wall Street dealmaker, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft in 2024. After serving just 84 days, he was ordered released by Trump, who called Santos a “rogue” but said he did not deserve a harsh sentence and should get credit for voting Republican. Kalshi’s temporary bans announced Monday also were imposed on Stephen Cloobeck, a timeshare mogul who briefly ran for California governor and who Kalshi says bought $10,000 worth of contracts on his candidacy, and Ben Midgley, a businessman who briefly competed for the GOP nomination for Maine governor and bet less than $1,000 on his campaign. Cloobeck could not immediately be reached for comment. Midgley said in a statement that he was not aware candidates could not support themselves on Kalshi when he used the platform he viewed as “a novelty and entertainment source.” “The moment I became aware the site preferred not to have candidates supporting themselves, I suspended any involvement,” he said. “I mean it is hard to take a site seriously which allows bets on virtually anything. Obviously, the novelty has worn off. I had no winnings and made a donation to charity in accordance with Kalshi’s policies.” ___ Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Patrick Whittle in Maine contributed to this report.

Kalshi has permanently banned George Santos from its prediction market platform after the former New York lawmaker failed to cooperate with the company's investigation into allegedly unlawful trades he made related to his attendance at the 2026 State of the Union address. A Kalshi spokesperson said Santos is being banned due to "his lack of cooperation" with its compliance department, which established "reasonable cause" to believe he had engaged in insider trading over his attendance at the address. Santos is the first person to receive a lifetime ban, the spokesperson confirmed. The prediction market also penalized him $71,356, a filing on the company's website shows. "Hey @Kalshi thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform," Santos wrote on X on Monday. "Let's see how much longer you guys are around for." In July, Santos to settle a federal probe into his suspicious trades on Kalshi. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also imposed a three-year trading ban on Santos.The CFTC alleged that between Feb. 12 and Feb. 25, Santos traded on a contract titled "Who will attend the State of the Union?" and on whether he would attend the event. Santos could influence the outcome of the event and so was prohibited from placing bets related to the State of the Union, according to a notice posted on Kalshi's website. However, Santos proceeded to make a series of trades linked to his attendance at the event and to make multiple public statements in an effort to influence the price of the prediction market contract, according to Kalshi. In an interview Monday, Kalshi's head of enforcement and legal counsel, Robert DeNault, told CBS News that the company has a compliance team in place "to catch bad actors, punish them, and deter other people from doing it again." "Prediction markets might be relatively new for people ... but this type of behavior is not new," DeNault said, noting that Santos "has been subject to punishment by the CFTC, and now he's being subject to punishment by our exchange." $17,500 profit "After these posts, the SOTU contract prices moved in a direction favorable to Santos' positions which allowed him to make over $17,500," the CFTC said in a July statement. In March, Santos addressed complaints about his attendance at the State of the Union address on his podcast. "I guess people lost money," he said. "Some people made unexpected money. That's to show you how fragile these markets are." Santos represented New York's 3rd District in the House of Representatives before in 2023 after being charged with fraud and campaign finance violations. He was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft in 2024.After serving just 84 days, however, he was , who called Santos a "rogue" but said he did not deserve a harsh sentence and should get credit for voting Republican.Insider trading allegations have become a flashpoint for prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket, which allow people to bet on the outcome of sports, elections and many other events. On Monday, Kalshi issued three other enforcement actions against people running for public office who bet on their own candidacy. Last week, the CFTC ordered a former White House teleprompter operator after the agency found that he on Kalshi bets related to presidential speeches that he had prior access to before they were delivered.

WASHINGTON — Ex-Long Island congressman George Santos has been fined and hit with the first lifetime ban on placing wagers through the prediction market Kalshi for betting on his own attendance at this year’s State of the Union address. The company said there is "reasonable cause" Santos placed his trades in a way that allowed him to make a $17,839 profit with postings on the social media site X saying he planned to attend President Donald Trump’s February address — only to then not show up. Kalshi’s rules state a person capable of influencing the outcome of an event cannot bet on the same event. "The Compliance Department has issued a penalty permanently suspending Santos from direct or indirect access to Kalshi and has imposed a penalty of $71,356," Kalshi’s formal notice of settlement of disciplinary action stated. In a separate statement, Kalshi’s head of enforcement, Robert J. DeNault, said Santos did not cooperate with the company’s investigation. The company confirmed this is its first such lifetime ban. Santos’ lawyer, Joe Murray, did not immediately comment on Monday. But Santos posted on X: "Hey @Kalshi thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform. Let's see how much longer you guys are around for." The Kalshi fine comes on top of a previous $35,000 regulatory settlement Santos agreed to pay last month with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over the same trades. That agency regulates the country's derivatives markets, including futures, options and swaps — and now predictive markets like Kalshi and rival Polymarket. As part of that CFTC settlement, Santos had already accepted a three-year ban from such trading. Santos' lawyer, Murray, had previously explained this was the first time Santos had traded on a prediction market, and that he actually did book travel to attend the State of the Union. But Murray said winter weather along the East Coast led Santos to decide it wasn't safe to travel. Santos’ fine and ban announced Monday was not the only disciplinary action announced in recent days involving Kalshi and people tied to politics or government. On Monday, it was also announced that Laurie Buckhout, a Republican running in a North Carolina congressional race, has been banned from trading for three years and fined more than $2,500. The company alleged she bet on whether she would win the congressional seat. And on Friday, the CFTC announced a former longtime White House teleprompter operator will pay $172,000 to settle allegations he improperly placed wagers on Kalshi about words Trump would use during speeches. The actions against Santos come as platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket are under intense scrutiny as users engage in sometimes billions of dollars of wagering each week on real-world events ranging from public policy, elections, the economy and national security concerns. Santos, who represented a congressional district that includes parts of Nassau, Suffolk and Queens counties, became the sixth member of the U.S. House ever expelled in December 2023. That came after a Committee on Ethics report detailing misuse of campaign funds and lying on financial filings. But federal prosecutors by then had already indicted Santos in 2023 on multiple charges of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, making false statements to Congress, identity theft and unauthorized use of donor credit cards. He initially pleaded not guilty, but ultimately admitted the charges in August 2024. In April 2025, Santos was sentenced to 7 years in prison. Months later, Trump commuted his sentence. In doing so, he described Santos on the social media site Truth Social as "somewhat of a rogue," but one Trump said had "the courage" to always vote Republican.

Kalshi bans former congressman George Santos for life after State of the Union trades Kalshi has banned former Republican congressman George Santos for life after the prediction market company found he misled the public about whether he would attend President Trump's State of the Union address in order to make a profit on the platform. Kalshi, which has the power to impose financial penalties as part of its federal license, fined Santos $71,356. Santos responded on X: "Hey @Kalshi thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform. Let's see how much longer you guys are around for." NPR first reported in June that federal authorities were investigating Santos for trades tied to a Kalshi market on who would be in attendance at the State of the Union. Days before the president's remarks, Santos posted a video on X saying, "I'm going to be there for the State of Union in the gallery, guys," only to later notify his followers that he was "watching SOTU from an airport tv." What he concealed from his social media audience was that he had already placed bets on Kalshi that he would not show up to the event. Kalshi said Santos made more than $17,000 in profit on the wagers. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates prediction markets, ordered Santos to give back those profits as part of a settlement reached with the former congressman last month. The federal regulator also fined him $17,500. Santos, 38, who has a long history of fabricating details about his life and career, was expelled from Congress, where he represented New York, in 2023. A year later, he pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud and identity theft. His seven-year prison term was cut short last year after President Trump commuted his sentence. Santos, who did not return NPR's requests for comment, made violent threats against this reporter after NPR first reported on his State of the Union bets. Before his State of the Union activity was known, Santos was a paid promoter of Polymarket, Kalshi's main rival. The company cut ties with Santos after federal investigators launched the probe into his betting. Congressional and gubernatorial candidates also suspended from Kalshi after betting on their own races Kalshi announced several other disciplinary actions on Monday against political candidates who bet on their own campaigns. Laurie Buckhout, a Republican Congressional candidate in North Carolina, was issued a fine and suspended from the site for three years after wagering on her own race. In a statement, Buckhout said: "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." The company also suspended for three years and fined billionaire Stephen Cloobeck, the founder of the timeshare company Diamond Resorts, saying he bet $10,000 on his now-abandoned bid for governor of California. A representative for Cloobeck did not return a request for comment. And former Planet Fitness president Ben Midgley, who ran to be Maine's Republican candidate for governor this year but was defeated, was found by Kalshi to have also placed money on his own candidacy. He also received a three-year suspension and was hit with a financial penalty. Midgley also did not respond to a request for comment. Kalshi's spate of crackdowns comes after regulators in Washington announced a settlement with President Trump's former teleprompter operator, Gabriel Perez, for using advance notice of the president's speeches to profit on so-called "mention markets" on Kalshi. As part of the deal, Perez was forced to give back more than $100,000 he made by placing lucrative bets on Trump's famously unpredictable choice of words. Perez was fined an additional $65,000, a sum regulators said was arrived at after he fully cooperated with the investigation. Since the Trump administration has few guardrails on the booming prediction market industry, the platforms are largely tasked with policing themselves. Federal authorities have criminally charged some traders suspected of using insider information to profit on sites, but the cases have mostly started with referrals from Kalshi and its main competitor, Polymarket. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has sued several states that have tried to treat prediction market sites as a form of gambling, a type of legal offensive the agency has never before embarked on. The debate about whether the prediction market industry should be regulated as gambling or a type of financial investment product is playing out in federal courts in a fight that pits the platforms and the Trump administration against state regulators. Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit delivered Kalshi a blow by ruling that Nevada had a right to ban the site as an illegal gambling operation. The decision created a split with a ruling earlier this year from the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in a similar dispute that sided with Kalshi. The Supreme Court will likely have the final say over the legal status of prediction markets. Last month, 44 states signed a letter to the Trump administration arguing that prediction market operators prey on young people and those who have a propensity for gambling addiction. "These for-profit prediction markets are a new form of casino used primarily for a few to manipulate others — the type of harms squarely within States' historic police powers to regulate gambling," the letter stated.

Kalshi said Monday that it has permanently banned former U.S. Rep. George Santos for his bets on whether he'd attend the State of the Union address. The online prediction market also fined and temporarily banned North Carolina congressional candidate Laurie Buckhout for bets she now calls a “dumb mistake.” The company announced the ban on Santos, a Republican, after its Compliance Department found reasonable cause to believe Santos engaged in insider trading, contributing to speculation over whether he would attend the address before turning a $17,839 profit on his trading activity when he did not. Kalshi spokesperson Elisabeth Diana said it was the first permanent ban in the company's history. She said those affected by four other new enforcement cases announced Monday would be banned from trading temporarily because they cooperated with Kalshi's probe. The company also levied a $2,589 fine and three-year ban against Buckhout, a Republican and retired colonel who’s running against Democratic Rep. Don Davis in a swing district in northeastern North Carolina, and three-year bans on failed candidates for governor in California and Maine. Kalshi said Buckhout admitted placing bets of less than $1,000 on her campaign. RELATED STORY | Prediction market Kalshi partners with The Weather Company on climate trading “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,” Buckhout said in a statement. “Safe to say my career as a Kalshi trader was short-lived.” The lifetime ban, effective last Friday, on Santos prevents him from accessing Kalshi's platform directly or indirectly. The site also imposed a $71,356 penalty. The convicted ex-congressman had repeatedly discussed his intention to attend the State of the Union, which came just four months after he was granted clemency by President Donald Trump in a fraud case that led to his expulsion from the U.S. House. On the eve of Trump’s speech, Kalshi put the odds of Santos attending at close to 75%. Then, minutes into the speech, Santos posted on X that he had been waylaid at the airport. Immediately, several social media users accused him of running another scheme. An email seeking comment from Santos on Monday was not immediately returned. On X, Santos called Kalshi “an unserious company” and labeled the ban “frivolous nonsense” in one post and, in another, said “thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform,” adding: “Let's see how much longer you guys are around for.” Kalshi's Compliance Department said Santos was prohibited from trading over his attendance plans because he was capable of influencing the outcome. Yet, it added, he placed several large bets between Feb. 2 and Feb. 25 on whether he would attend and then spoke publicly to influence the price of the bets, including making "false or misleading statements.” A month ago, Santos agreed to pay $35,000 to settle a federal investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission into the trades. The federal probe prompted rival online prediction platform Polymarket to cut ties with Santos in June. RELATED STORY | New York sues prediction market platform Kalshi, alleging 'illegal gambling operation' In March, Santos addressed complaints about his attendance at the State of the Union address on his podcast. “I guess people lost money,” he said. “Some people made unexpected money. That’s to show you how fragile these markets are.” Santos, who won office after inventing a bogus persona as a Wall Street dealmaker, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft in 2024. After serving just 84 days, he was ordered released by Trump, who called Santos a “rogue” but said he did not deserve a harsh sentence and should get credit for voting Republican. Kalshi's temporary bans announced Monday also were imposed on Stephen Cloobeck, a timeshare mogul who briefly ran for California governor and who Kalshi says bought $10,000 worth of contracts on his candidacy, and Ben Midgley, a businessman who briefly competed for the GOP nomination for Maine governor and bet less than $1,000 on his campaign. Cloobeck could not immediately be reached for comment. Midgley said in a statement that he was not aware candidates could not support themselves on Kalshi when he used the platform he viewed as “a novelty and entertainment source.” “The moment I became aware the site preferred not to have candidates supporting themselves, I suspended any involvement,” he said. “I mean it is hard to take a site seriously which allows bets on virtually anything. Obviously, the novelty has worn off. I had no winnings and made a donation to charity in accordance with Kalshi’s policies.”

George Santos, the former House memberwho was expelled from Congressfor ethics violations while facing a federal indictment, has been banned for life from the prediction market platform Kalshi, the company said Monday. The 7 Santos received the prediction market platform’s first-ever lifetime ban for failing to comply with its investigation, the company said. George Santos, the former House memberwho was expelled from Congressfor ethics violations while facing a federal indictment, has been banned for life from the prediction market platform Kalshi, the company said Monday. The 7 Santos received the prediction market platform’s first-ever lifetime ban for failing to comply with its investigation, the company said. George Santos, the former House memberwho was expelled from Congressfor ethics violations while facing a federal indictment, has been banned for life from the prediction market platform Kalshi, the company said Monday.

George Santos has become the first person permanently banned from prediction market Kalshi after the company found evidence the former New York congressman engaged in insider trading tied to his own attendance at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. Kalshi also fined Santos $71,356, according to the company. Kalshi’s compliance department said it had “reasonable cause to believe” Santos engaged in improper trading in markets concerning his attendance at the February address. Santos placed bets on whether he would attend while publicly telling his social media followers that he planned to be there. “Hey @Kalshi thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform,” Santos wrote on social media Monday after the punishment was announced. “Let’s see how much longer you guys are around for.” Santos also accused the company of violating a 30-day notice he said it gave him earlier this month. The former congressman began trading the State of the Union contract on Feb. 12, according to a Commodity Futures Trading Commission order. He initially bet that he would attend and repeatedly suggested publicly that he planned to do so. On Feb. 23, Santos posted that he would “be there in the gallery,” then posted a video saying, “I’m going to be in the gallery.” Minutes later, he began building a position betting that he would not attend, according to the CFTC. Santos ultimately skipped the address and made more than $17,500 from his trading. The CFTC fined Santos $17,500 in July and ordered him to give up $17,569.98 in profits after finding that he engaged in manipulative activity “designed to affect the price of the swap.” He was also barred from certain trading for three years. Kalshi said Santos was the only person among several traders disciplined Monday who did not cooperate with its investigation, contributing to the decision to permanently ban him. Santos was expelled from Congress in 2023 and later pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He was sentenced to more than seven years in prison before Trump commuted his sentence last year.

The prediction-market exchange Kalshi has permanently prohibited former Rep. George Santos from accessing the platform after establishing “reasonable cause to believe” that he participated in insider trading. The lifetime ban—the first time Kalshi has ever imposed such a penalty on a user—comes after the company investigated the former New York Republican Congressman for allegedly placing bets on the prediction market platform over whether he was going to attend President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Feb. 24. “As a person capable of influencing the outcome of the underlying event, Santos was prohibited from trading in this market” under Kalshi’s exchange rules, the company said in a statement. But, the company alleged, Santos “placed a series of large trades in a market where the underlying contracts depended upon his own attendance at the event” from Feb. 2 to 25. Kalshi added that Santos made “a series of public statements regarding his attendance at the event in an attempt to influence the price of Yes and No contracts, respectively,” and that some of those statements were “false or misleading.” On Kalshi, users can trade “Yes” or “No” on whether they think something will happen in the future. Santos said on social media ahead of Trump’s State of the Union address in February that he was going to be at the event, but ultimately did not attend. “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 alleged. “Furthermore, The Department found that Santos materially benefited from his trading activity, profiting $17,839.57 in the Target Markets.” In addition to permanently banning Santos from Kalshi, the company also levied a fine of $71,356 against him. Santos responded to the news on Monday, saying in a post on X: “Hey @Kalshi thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform. Let’s see how much longer you guys are around for.” In another post on X, Santos alleged that Kalshi “violates its own notices and deadlines,” accusing the company of giving him a 30-day notice on Aug. 7 but announcing the lifetime ban ahead of the deadline. Robert DeNault, head of enforcement at Kalshi, said on social media that the company was temporarily suspending other individuals over allegations of insider trading. He added, though, that Santos was the only person who didn’t cooperate with Kalshi’s investigation into the alleged violations. Kalshi’s penalties against Santos come after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission fined the former Congressman more than $35,000 in July related to trading on his attendance at Trump’s State of the Union address. The commission alleged that Santos engaged “in manipulative activity in an event contract — whose underlying event Santos controlled — designed to affect the price of the swap.” Santos didn’t admit to the allegations, but he agreed to pay the penalties. Santos, who was expelled from the House in 2023, was sentenced in April 2025 to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and identity theft. But in October, Trump announced that he had commuted Santos’ sentence, and Santos was released after serving less than three months.

NEW YORK (AP) — The online prediction market platform Kalshi said Monday that it has permanently banned former U.S. Rep. George Santos after concluding the former Republican congressman likely engaged in insider trading when he profited by betting against his attendance at the State of the Union address. The company announced the ban after its compliance department said it had established reasonable cause to believe Santos engaged in insider trading, contributing to speculation over whether he would attend the address before turning a $17,839 profit on his trading activity when he did not. Kalshi spokesperson Elisabeth Diana said it was the first permanent ban in the company’s history. She said those affected by four other new enforcement cases announced Monday would only be banned from trading temporarily because they cooperated with Kalshi’s Compliance Department. The Compliance Department issued the lifetime ban, effective last Friday, against Santos, preventing him from accessing its platform directly or indirectly. The site also imposed a $71,356 penalty. The convicted ex-congressman had repeatedly discussed his intention to attend the State of the Union, which came just four months after he was granted clemency by President Donald Trump in a fraud case that led to his expulsion from the U.S. House. On the eve of Trump’s speech, Kalshi put the odds of Santos attending at close to 75%. Then, minutes into the speech, Santos posted on X that he had been waylaid at the airport. Immediately, several social media users accused him of running another scheme. An email seeking comment from Santos on Monday was not immediately returned. But on X, Santos called Kalshi “an unserious company” and labeled the ban “frivolous nonsense” in one post and, in another, said “thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform” and added: “Let’s see how much longer you guys are around for.” Kalshi’s Compliance Department said Santos was prohibited from trading in the market over whether he would attend the address because he was capable of influencing the outcome. Yet, it added, he placed a series of large bets between Feb. 2 and Feb. 25 on whether he would attend the event and then began making public statements regarding whether he would attend in an effort to influence the price of the bets. “Some of these included false or misleading statements,” the Compliance Department said as it described its findings. A month ago, Santos agreed to pay $35,000 to settle a federal investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over the trades. The federal probe prompted rival online prediction platform Polymarket to cut ties with Santos in June. In March, Santos addressed complaints about his attendance at the State of the Union address on his podcast. “I guess people lost money,” he said. “Some people made unexpected money. That’s to show you how fragile these markets are.” Santos, who won office as a Republican after inventing a bogus persona as a Wall Street dealmaker, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft in 2024. After serving just 84 days, he was ordered released by Trump, who called Santos a “rogue” but said he did not deserve a harsh sentence and should get credit for voting Republican. Kalshi’s temporary three-year bans announced Monday included a Republican candidate for Congress in North Carolina and failed candidates for governor in California and Maine. The company issued a $2,589 fine against retired Col. Laurie Buckhout, who’s running against Democratic Rep. Don Davis in a swing district in northeastern North Carolina. Kalshi said Buckhout admitted placing bets of less than $1,000 on her campaign. The company said the candidate cooperated with its investigation. “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,” Buckhout said in a statement. “Safe to say my career as a Kalshi trader was short-lived.” The company also handed down three-year suspensions to Stephen Cloobeck, a timeshare mogul who briefly ran for California governor and who Kalshi says bought $10,000 worth of contracts on his candidacy, and Ben Midgley, a businessman who briefly competed for the GOP nomination for Maine governor and bet less than $1,000 on his campaign. Neither man could immediately be reached for comment. ___ Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Kalshi, the online exchange platform based on future events, has imposed a lifetime ban – the first of its kind in the platform’s history – on former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York, George Santos, over involvement in suspicious trading practices and insider information exploitation. Investigations showed that federal authorities, the Department of Justice, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) opened extensive inquiries following a report by Kalshi after it detected suspicious trading activity. It was found that Santos engaged in illegal bets on the platform totaling over $17,000 related to events personal to him, most notably bets about whether he would attend the State of the Union address for President Donald Trump in February. Santos deliberately misled the public by announcing his intention to attend to alter the odds, before later canceling his plans citing travel problems, earning substantial profits amounting to tens of thousands of dollars from the ruse and his pre-knowledge of his moves. When confronted by the media about owning an account on the platform, he merely said: “I don’t say yes, and I don’t say no.” A sluggish cooperation and severe financial penalties The permanent ban came after Santos’ demonstrated lack of full cooperation with Kalshi’s internal investigative committees. In addition to the final ban, Kalshi imposed a deterrent fine of $71,356. This development adds to the already controversial record of the former representative; Santos briefly held a seat in Congress for New York’s 3rd district before being expelled in December 2023 following an Ethics Committee report that disclosed his use of campaign funds for personal purposes and luxury purchases. In April 2025, he was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of wire fraud and identity theft, a sentence later reduced in late 2025. This case comes amid rising legislative and regulatory scrutiny of prediction platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket due to suspicions of trading based on insider information related to various political and global events.