George Santos Banned From Kalshi After State Of The Union Trades

LONG ISLAND, NY — Former U.S. Representative George Santos has been banned from trading on Kalshi, an online exchange and prediction market, after potentially influencing bets related to his attendance at the State of the Union address.

According to the Kalshi exchange notice of settlement of disciplinary action document, the company's Compliance Department found reasonable cause to believe that Santos engaged in suspicious trading.

Santos was prohibited from trading in certain markets under a Kalshi exchange rule due to being capable of "influencing the outcome of the underlying event," the document stated.

Although this was the case, Santos placed a series of large trades in a market where the "underlying contracts depended upon his own attendance at the event" between Feb. 2 and Feb. 25, 2026, according to the document.

He made public announcements about his potential attendance at the State of the Union address, which influenced the price of bets, the notice stated.

In a video posted on X on Feb. 23, Santos said, "I'm gonna be in the gallery," and yet he was not in attendance the next day.

Kalshi's Compliance Department found that Santos profited in trades by $17,839.57 after not attending the State of the Union address.

Kalshi spokesperson Elisabeth Diana told Patch that "Santos faces additional financial penalties and will be banned permanently from trading on Kalshi given his lack of cooperation."

This comes after the congressman was ordered to pay $35,000 in fines in August after an investigation revealed that he had manipulated prediction markets to make more money betting on whether or not he would attend the State of the Union.

Kalshi announced five new enforcement cases on Monday, the majority involving violations of their exchange rules about prohibited trading activity, and all those involved besides George Santos cooperated with their Compliance Department and will be banned temporarily, Diana said.

Laurie Buckhout, a Republican North Carolina congressional candidate, has been temporarily banned for three years and owes a penalty of $2,589.96, Kalshi stated.

Along with Buckhout, the other temporary bans in effect are for Ben Midgley with a penalty of $5,434.30, and Stephen Cloobeck with a $31,770 penalty, according to Kalshi.