Former Congressman George Santos fined and banned from trading over Kalshi market manipulation
The CFTC has fined Santos and barred him from trading for three years after finding that he manipulated a Kalshi prediction market.
US.- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has fined former New York Congressman George Santos and imposed a three-year trading ban after determining that he manipulated trades on the prediction market platform Kalshi. The incident involved an event contract linked to whether he would attend President Donald Trump’s 2026 State of the Union address.
According to the regulator, Santos engaged in manipulative trading in an event contract based on an outcome that he personally controlled to influence the market price to benefit his own positions.
Under the settlement order, Santos must disgorge $17,570 in profits obtained through the unlawful trading activity and pay a $17,500 civil monetary penalty. He also agreed to cease and desist from future violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations, in addition to accepting a three-year trading ban.
The CFTC found that between February 12 and 25, Santos traded contracts on a Kalshi market titled “Who will attend the State of the Union?”. He bought and sold positions on whether he would attend the 2026 address and posted on social media about his plans to attend the event. According to the CFTC, those posts contained material misrepresentations and omissions regarding his intentions.
The regulator said the statements caused contract prices to move in a direction favourable to Santos’ positions. After detecting the suspicious trading activity, Kalshi froze Santos’ account and referred the matter to the CFTC and the Department of Justice (DOJ), which each opened separate investigations.
