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.
