Kalshi Probes Well-Timed Bets on Trump’s Surprise New Hire

Katie Zacharia/X The Kalshi prediction market has reportedly launched an investigation into a series of bets on Donald Trump’s startling new selection of Katie Zacharia as his White House press secretary.

Conservative commentator Zacharia, 42, was widely seen as having only a 1 percent chance of becoming the new press secretary.

Then on Thursday night and Friday—before Trump made any announcement—three traders placed bets on her chances on the Kalshi platform, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Such activity can raise suspicions about insider information that can skew the betting market—just as inside information about business can hand a huge, unfair advantage to stock traders.

The “ small but well-timed wagers ” on Zacharia were placed on the Kalshi platform before news of Trump’s choice emerged, providing an opportunity for the bettors to make thousands of dollars, the Journal reported Friday.

One $19 bet placed Thursday night was slated to pay out 99 times the wager, or $1,896, according to the Journal.

Bets of $74 and $80 placed Friday were expected to pay out $3,689 and $4,023, respectively, the newspaper reported.

Prediction markets have created the possibility for people in the know to capitalize on information that is not publicly available, creating what can amount to a rigged system.

The White House recently fired Trump’s teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez after he collected more than $100,000 on bets about the president’s speeches, to which he had early access.

Perez reached a settlement agreement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission two months ago.

Meanwhile, some of the stock trades made by the president’s business accounts benefited from federal policy he had yet to announce.

Trump accounts made 517 securities trades in August, for a total of up to $273 million , according to records.

Meta Platforms was the largest trade, involving the purchase of $5 million to $25 million on August 21, CNBC reported this week.

Trump accounts also bought $1 million to $5 million of SpaceX notes, corporate IOUs paying 5.35 percent a year until July 2031.