George Santos becomes first person to get lifetime ban from Kalshi; fined $1.8 million by DHS

Prediction market platform Kalshi has issued a lifetime ban to former Congressman George Santos, citing his likely involvement in insider trading. The company concluded that Santos made bets on whether he would attend the 2026 State of the Union address, an event he had the power to influence. Kalshi alleges that Santos then made public statements, some reportedly false or misleading, to manipulate the market prices of these contracts for his financial gain.

Santos reportedly profited $17,839 from these trades. In addition to the permanent ban—the first ever issued by Kalshi—the platform also levied a penalty of $71,356 against him. Kalshi indicated that Santos's lack of cooperation with their investigation contributed to the decision for a permanent ban.

This action follows a separate federal investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) earlier this year, where Santos agreed to pay over $35,000 and received a three-year trading ban related to the same suspicious trades, without admitting wrongdoing. Santos reacted to the Kalshi ban on social media, dismissing the platform as a "gambling platform" and questioning its future.