Former U.S. Representative George Santos banned for life from Kalshi and fined $71,400 for manipulating his own prediction market appearances

Odaily News The prediction market platform Kalshi has permanently banned former U.S. Representative George Santos and fined him $71,400. Kalshi determined that he manipulated markets related to whether he would attend the State of the Union address, profiting $17,800 from the scheme.

In a disciplinary notice issued on August 28, Kalshi's compliance department stated that Santos made multiple large trades in the relevant markets between February 2 and 25. Since he could influence the market outcome, platform rules prohibited him from trading in that market; he subsequently made false or misleading statements regarding his attendance plans in an attempt to influence the prices of the "Yes" and "No" contracts.

Kalshi determined that the statements were intended to manipulate prices and did cause price movements, resulting in violations of rules against market manipulation, trading on event outcomes, and fraudulent manipulation. He was also penalized for failing to cooperate with the investigation. This penalty marks the first time Kalshi has issued a lifetime ban against a former member of Congress. (Decrypt)