Kalshi Bans George Santos for Life After Large Trump Speech Bets
Former congressman George Santos has been banned from trading on Kalshi, a federally regulated prediction market, for life. The ban was issued after he placed large bets on his own State of the Union attendance contract and netted nearly $18,000. In addition to the lifetime ban, Santos was fined over $70,000 by Kalshi and agreed to pay $35,000 in a separate settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The case follows Trump's commutation of Santos' seven-year prison sentence in October last year. Santos had served less than three months before his release. The ban is seen as a tightening of oversight and security measures in the crypto, prediction markets, and related DeFi/DEX/CEX ecosystems.
Santos was expelled from Congress in December 2023 after being charged with misusing campaign funds and stealing identities. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft and was sentenced to 87 months in prison before his sentence was commuted.