Former NY Rep. George Santos under investigation for alleged insider trading on Kalshi
Former New York Representative george santosTrump, who was imprisoned on federal fraud charges after being expelled from Congress last year, is now under scrutiny for his trading in prediction markets, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Prediction site Kalshi detects suspicious activity a market on whether the former Republican lawmaker will attend the State of the Union address this year, one of the sources said.
Traders in Kalshi bet millions of dollars on who would attend President Donald Trump’s speech, including Santos; the president’s son, Barron; USA Hockey star Jack Hughes; And Nick ShirleyMAGA journalist whose Minnesota scam story went viral.
Santos had publicly stated that he would attend before the speech, but ultimately did not attend.
The source said that Kalshi determined that the account belonged to Santos, froze the account, and forwarded the matter to the Ministry of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
A separate source said the federal agency CFTC regulates prediction marketsis investigating the issue. A third source said the Justice Department is not currently conducting an investigation.
Santos Published on X “The basis for the accusation is unreasonable and I look forward to providing any information requested from me to any investigating agency, until then the media please do not investigate,” Wednesday said.
Kalshi did not comment for this story.
Federal review of Santos trades first reported by NPR. Santos told NPR he was unaware of any insider trading investigations.
Santos was serving a seven-year prison sentence for felony identity theft and wire fraud charges related to the 2022 midterm campaign, for which Trump commuted his sentence last year. He was imprisoned for less than three months.
Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket has exploded in popularity Over the past year, anyone has been allowed to place bets on almost anything, from sports to elections to who will win the 50th season of “Survivor.”
The markets are treated like commodity futures and regulated by the federal government; But many lawmakers and state officials say the rules don’t meet the realities of the fast-growing industry.
CNN has a partnership with Kalshi and uses its data to cover major events, but CNN editorial staff are not allowed to operate on forecast sites.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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