Former Republican congressman George Santos has agreed to pay more than $35,000 in fines and is temporarily barred from trading on Kalshi after federal regulators concluded he unlawfully manipulated a prediction market.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced Friday that Santos will pay a $17,500 civil penalty and forfeit an additional $17,570 in profits under a settlement resolving allegations that he improperly profited from trades tied to his attendance at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in February. He is also banned from trading on the prediction market Kalshi for three years.

The case stems from bets Santos placed on whether he would attend Trump’s address to Congress in February. Santos publicly indicated he planned to attend the speech while also placing trades on Kalshi predicting that he would not appear. He later announced on the night of the address in a post on X that he would miss the event.

Kalshi flagged the unusual trading activity and referred the matter to federal authorities, including the CFTC, which opened an investigation in June. 

“Mr. Santos has agreed to resolve the CFT’s inquiry and to put this matter behind him. Critically, and consistent with how these regulatory matters are commonly resolved, Mr. Santos has settled without admitting any of the Commission’s allegations, findings, or conclusions,” Santos’ attorney, Joseph W. Murray, said in statement.

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Ebony Davis

Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at CNN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.