Former US Representative George Santos is reportedly the subject of federal investigations into his activity on the prediction market platform Kalshi.
In February, four months after his release from federal prison, Santos stated on social media that he planned to attend President Donald Trump's State of the Union address. At the time, traders on Kalshi were actively wagering on attendance-related outcomes.
Following Santos' public comments indicating that he would attend, market odds shifted significantly in favor of his appearance. Santos ultimately did not attend the address.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Santos had previously taken positions on Kalshi, predicting he would not attend the event. Those sources allege that he profited by tens of thousands of dollars after the market moved in response to his public statements.
According to two people familiar with Kalshi's internal review, the platform identified the trading activity, froze the account in question and referred the matter to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Department of Justice (DOJ). The sources said both agencies subsequently opened investigations.
When contacted by reporters, Santos said, "Well, that's news to me." In a post on X, Santos said that his legal team was in contact with the DOJ "to see what is going on" and described the insider trading allegations as "preposterous."
Separately, a reporter covering the story accused Santos of threatening him during a heated phone call. The former lawmaker asserted that the journalist’s report contained numerous inaccuracies and denied being investigated by the DOJ.
Kalshi recently launched the American Power Index, a non-tradable measure designed to track which US political party holds more power in Washington
