George Santos, the former Republican congressman, has been issued a lifetime ban by the prediction-market platform Kalshi. This decision, announced on Monday, also includes a $71,356 fine.
Federal regulators accused Santos of making profits from bets linked to his own attendance at Donald Trump’s State of the Union address earlier this year. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) alleges Santos exploited stormy weather forecasts to influence his bets, then manipulated contract values through social media posts.
A Kalshi spokeswoman stated that Santos's lack of full cooperation with the platform's internal investigation was the reason the penalty was made permanent rather than temporary. Santos responded to the ban on X, thanking Kalshi and questioning their future.
Santos had previously agreed in July to pay over $35,000 to settle the CFTC’s case, without admitting wrongdoing, which included a three-year ban from trading on any platform. The lifetime ban from Kalshi is an additional penalty.
Other individuals also faced disciplinary action from Kalshi on Monday, including Republican congressional candidate Laurie Buckhout, former Planet Fitness president Ben Midgley, and Diamond Resorts founder Stephen Cloobeck, all of whom received three-year bans and fines for wagering on their own campaigns or bids.