Former Congressmen Santos Under Invesigation For Prediction Market Insider Trading
Mike Goodpaster Published 04/06/2026
Disgraced former U.S. Congressman George Santos, already a convicted felon, is in trouble yet again. Santos is under investigation for insider trading on the prediction market Kalshi. Santos is accused of manipulating a situation involving U.S. President Donald Trump's State of the Union address. It was done so to make money on a trade through Kalshi's prediction market site.
Kalshi originally flagged the trade as suspicious and suspended the account, which proved to be Santos' own account. The matter was referred by Kalshi to both the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for further investigation.
The accusation is that Santos bet on himself
According to the allegations of what took place, former Congressman Santos put it out to the public that he would be attending President Trump's State of the Union address.
"I'm going to be there for the State of the Union in the gallery, guys," Santos said in a video he posted to the social media site X a day before Trump's speech.
Several trades on people who might be attending the State of the Union were later created on Kalshi's prediction market platform. Santos was among those who were listed. Others included Trump's son Barron and U.S. Olympic hockey hero Jack Hughes.
By posting his video, Santos made the odds of his making an appearance shorten, while the line that he wouldn't be there lengthened significantly.
A Kalshi account made a play on Santos not attending the speech. In fact, the former Republican lawmaker did not attend.
Kalshi later placed the account under suspension for suspicious activity. The company claims that the account belongs to the former Congressman.
The matter was then forwarded to the CFTC, federal regulators of prediction market sites, and the DOJ. According to reporting by CNN, the CFTC is investigating Santos for insider trading. However, another source offered that the DOJ was not pursuing the matter.
The former Congressman is denying the accusations
Santos took to social media to claim his innocence of the insider trading accusations.
“The basis of the accusation is preposterous, and I look forward to supplying any information asked of me to any agency that inquires," Santos posted on X. "Till then, media please do not inquire.”
Santos also denied the allegations in an interview with NPR.
"Well, that's news to me," Santos said. However, he did not deny having a Kalshi account.
"I'm not saying yes, I'm not saying no," Santos said.
Later, the former Congressman again took to X to defend himself.
"My legal team is in contact with the DOJ to see what is going on," Santos posted. "I look forward to supplying any information asked of me to any agency that inquires."
Santos has a history of falsehoods
The 37-year-old former Republican member of Congress won election to the U.S. House of Representatives by running a campaign built on a house of cards of deception.
Santos made the claim that he graduated from Baruch College in the top 1% of his class. He said his mother was working in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11. Santos claimed to be Jewish and that his grandparents were survivors of the Holocaust.
None of it was true.
Just five months after being sworn in as a U.S. Representative, Santos was expelled from Congress. Facing 13 counts of wire fraud, money laundering, and stealing money from political donors, Santos was convicted and sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison.
President Trump later commuted his sentence.