U.S. Is Said to Be Investigating George Santos Over Kalshi Betting
Federal authorities are investigating whether former Rep. George Santos engaged in insider trading by betting in a prediction market on whether President Trump would attend the State of the Union address in late February.
Just before the speech, Mr. Santos announced on social media that he planned to attend. Whether he will be there or not was a hot topic among online bookmakers on the Kalshi prediction market. Betting on the guest list.
“I will be in the gallery,” Mr. Santos said. was mocked In a video on X.
But Mr. Santos missed the conversation, and Kalshi found that Mr. Santos had bet against his own participation, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
The company has referred the issue to the Justice Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a financial regulator that oversees prediction markets, the source said.
The CFTC is currently investigating Mr. Santos, according to another person who spoke on condition of anonymity. It is not yet clear whether the Ministry of Justice has launched an investigation.
Mr. Santos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The investigation comes as the Trump administration is under pressure to show it can police insider trading and other abuses in fast-growing, highly lucrative prediction markets. Kalshi is one of many prediction market companies with ties to the president’s business empire. Early last year, the firm appointed the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., as a “strategic advisor.”
A New York Times investigation published last month found that under the Trump administration, the CFTC, a little-known but important financial regulator, has repeatedly ruled in favor of prediction markets. Two senior career officials at the agency who raised questions about its handling of prediction market cases were placed on investigative leave, banned from the office and placed under investigation late last year, The Times reported.
CFTC chairman Michael S. Selig promised in an interview with The Times that regulators would hold offenders accountable.
Mr. Santos, 37, a former Republican congressman from New York, was charged with fraud in 2023 after The Times and other outlets reported that he had lied extensively about his biography. Prosecutors accused him of lying on official forms and stealing from donors, among other schemes. He was expelled from parliament and eventually sentenced to seven years in prison.
Mr. Santos was released from prison in the fall after Mr. Trump commuted his sentence.
Investigation into Mr Santos’ prediction market transactions Previously reported by National Public Radio.
The investigation is the third insider trading case to come to light in recent weeks. Last month, the Department of Justice and the CFTC charged A Google employee who used inside information to bet on internet search results.
And in April, a member of the U.S. Special Forces was charged with illegally using classified government information to bet more than $400,000 on an operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Benjamin Weiser And Glenn Juniper contributed to the reporting.
