‘I bet on myself. Literally’: Ex-Congressman George Santos banned for life from Kalshi after making $17,839 from insider trading

The online prediction market platform Kalshi said Monday that it has permanently banned former U.S.

Rep.

George Santos for his bets on whether he’d attend the State of the Union address and has fined and temporarily banned North Carolina congressional candidate Laurie Buckhout for bets she now calls a “dumb mistake.” The company announced the ban on Santos, a Republican, after its Compliance Department found reasonable cause to believe Santos engaged in insider trading, contributing to speculation over whether he would attend the address before turning a $17,839 profit on his trading activity when he did not.

Kalshi spokesperson Elisabeth Diana said it was the first permanent ban in the company’s history.

She said those affected by four other new enforcement cases announced Monday would be banned from trading temporarily because they cooperated with Kalshi’s probe.

The company also levied a $2,589 fine and three-year ban against Buckhout, a Republican and retired colonel who’s running against Democratic Rep.

Don Davis in a swing district in northeastern North Carolina, and three-year bans on failed candidates for governor in California and Maine.

Kalshi said Buckhout admitted placing bets of less than $1,000 on her campaign.

“I bet on myself.

Literally.

It was a dumb mistake, and as soon as I learned there was an issue, I worked to make it right,” Buckhout said in a statement.

“Safe to say my career as a Kalshi trader was short-lived.” The lifetime ban, effective last Friday, on Santos prevents him from accessing Kalshi’s platform directly or indirectly.

The site also imposed a $71,356 penalty.

The convicted ex-congressman had repeatedly discussed his intention to attend the State of the Union, which came just four months after he was granted clemency by President Donald Trump in a fraud case that led to his expulsion from the U.S.