Former Republican congressman and convicted fraudster George Santos has received the honor of being the first person to ever get a lifetime ban from the prediction market platform Kalshi.
The prediction market, which has gained popularity in recent years for its sports betting and other future outcomes, announced on Monday (Aug. 31), that Santos has been banned for life in a notice of disciplinary action. According to Kalshi, the former congressman engaged in trading activity related to whether he would attend Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in February 2026.
“As a person capable of influencing the outcome of the underlying event, Santos was prohibited from trading in this market,” reads the notice. “Santos placed a series of large trades in a market where the underlying contracts depended upon his own attendance at the event. He then began making a series of public statements regarding his attendance at the event in an attempt to influence the price of Yes and No contracts, respectively. Some of these included false or misleading statements.”
According to the prediction market, he profited over $17,000 from his trading activity, which he allegedly manipulated through false statements he publicly made. In addition to the lifetime ban, he has been issued a fine of $71,356.
The trades were flagged to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) after the markets closed, and in July he settled with the CFTC for $35,000. Kalshi issued four other notices on Monday, but Santos was the only one hit with a lifetime ban because he didn’t settle with the company.
“He wouldn’t talk to us, and actively dodged us,” a Kalshi spokesperson told Wired.
In a post shared on X, formerly Twitter, Santos responded to the lifetime ban.
“Hey @Kalshi thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform,” he wrote. “Let’s see how much longer you guys are around for.”
Following an ethics investigation in 2023, Santos was expelled from Congress. He was later sentenced to 87 months in federal prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, but was released last year when his sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump. He has repeatedly faced public scrutiny for lying, including about his education, employment history, and his heritage.
