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. House.
On the eve of Trump’s speech, Kalshi put the odds of Santos attending at close to 75%.
Then, minutes into the speech, Santos posted on X that he had been waylaid at the airport. Immediately, several social media users accused him of running another scheme.
An email seeking comment from Santos on Monday was not immediately returned.
On X, Santos called Kalshi “an unserious company” and labeled the ban “frivolous nonsense” in one post and, in another, said “thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform,” adding: “Let’s see how much longer you guys are around for.”
Kalshi’s Compliance Department said Santos was prohibited from trading over his attendance plans because he was capable of influencing the outcome. Yet, it added, he placed several large bets between Feb. 2 and Feb. 25 on whether he would attend and then spoke publicly to influence the price of the bets, including making “false or misleading statements.”
A month ago, Santos agreed to pay $35,000 to settle a federal investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission into the trades. The federal probe prompted rival online prediction platform Polymarket to cut ties with Santos in June.
In March, Santos addressed complaints about his attendance at the State of the Union address on his podcast.
“I guess people lost money,” he said. “Some people made unexpected money. That’s to show you how fragile these markets are.”
Santos, who won office after inventing a bogus persona as a Wall Street dealmaker, was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft in 2024. After serving just 84 days, he was ordered released by Trump, who called Santos a “rogue” but said he did not deserve a harsh sentence and should get credit for voting Republican.
Kalshi’s temporary bans announced Monday also were imposed on Stephen Cloobeck, a timeshare mogul who briefly ran for California governor and who Kalshi says bought $10,000 worth of contracts on his candidacy, and Ben Midgley, a businessman who briefly competed for the GOP nomination for Maine governor and bet less than $1,000 on his campaign. Cloobeck could not immediately be reached for comment.
Midgley said in a statement that he was not aware candidates could not support themselves on Kalshi when he used the platform he viewed as “a novelty and entertainment source.”
“The moment I became aware the site preferred not to have candidates supporting themselves, I suspended any involvement,” he said. “I mean it is hard to take a site seriously which allows bets on virtually anything. Obviously, the novelty has worn off. I had no winnings and made a donation to charity in accordance with Kalshi’s policies.”
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Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Patrick Whittle in Maine contributed to this report.