CFTC fines George Santos over Kalshi market manipulation

Former Rep. George Santos agreed Friday to resolve Commodity Futures Trading Commission charges that he manipulated a Kalshi contract on whether he would attend February’s State of the Union address.

This order compels him to disgorge profits in the amount of $17,569.98, a civil monetary penalty of $17,500, cease and desist orders, and trading prohibition for a period of three years, according to the CFTC. He did not admit or deny the findings.

The CFTC found the conduct occurred between February 12 and February 25, and described it as manipulative activity in a contract whose underlying event Santos controlled.

Santos moved the market he was trading

Kalshi users wagered more than $15 million on which political figures would attend the address. Santos took a yes position on himself, then asked followers on X whether he should wear a “muted serious suit to the SOTU or a bedazzled one,” per Forbes. The price of that position climbed, and he exited at a profit, per The Hill.

He ran the sequence repeatedly, narrating a trip toward Washington while trading against the reactions his posts produced. The day before the address, he said in a video that he would be there in the gallery. The following evening, he posted that watching from an airport television had not been the plan.

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