Kalshi faces lawsuit over disputed Oklahoma Tribal partnership

A leadership dispute within an Oklahoma Tribe has landed Kalshi in court, after a man claiming to be the Tribe’s legitimate Chief challenged a prediction market deal signed by another man claiming the same position.

The Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town and Samuel Marshall Jr. filed a lawsuit against the operator, CEO Tarek Mansour, Wilson Yargee and Michael Stopp, seeking to block an agreement that would let the Tribe develop and run a prediction market app called PokkeTrades.

The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the Tribe is not legally bound by the PokkeTrades agreement and that Yargee and his administration lack the authority to approve it.

It also claims that Yargee was ousted in 2021 but has continued to wrongly present himself as chief of the Tribal town, located in Wetumka, about 90 miles southeast of Oklahoma City.

According to the complaint, Yargee’s agreement with Kalshi has forced Marshall and other Tribal officials to spend time and money clarifying the situation. It has also allegedly disrupted business relationships, harmed the Tribe’s commercial reputation and caused confusion over its leadership. The Tribe is seeking a temporary restraining order, financial compensation and action to correct Yargee’s claims, among other remedies.

Kalshi, which announced the partnership last month as one of its first agreements with a Native American Tribe, maintains that the deal is valid. Spokesperson Jacki McGavick said on behalf of the company and CEO Tarek Mansour that the Tribe’s governing council had approved the agreement.

Meanwhile, Stopp, a Cherokee Nation citizen and Yargee’s Vice President of Economic Development, dismissed the latest legal action as another lawsuit brought by Marshall’s administration.

Stopp said he and Yargee expect the court to throw out the case, as they claim it has done with previous lawsuits filed by Marshall’s administration.

An earlier case between Marshall and Yargee over the Tribe’s leadership was dismissed because the court lacked jurisdiction. This was due to both parties failing to waive their sovereign immunity, a legal protection that generally shields recognized Tribes from lawsuits without their consent.