George Santos Just Made History—in a Bad Way

Disgraced former Republican Representative George Santos has become the first person to ever receive a lifetime ban from the prediction market Kalshi.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Santos received the ban after he allegedly made over $17,000 from bets he placed about his attendance at President Trump’s State of the Union address earlier this year. Kalshi said in a filing on its website that Santos didn’t cooperate with the company’s investigation and also has to pay a $71,356 penalty.

Santos mocked the company on X on Monday morning, writing: “Hey @Kalshi thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform. Let’s see how much longer you guys are around for.” In a follow-up post, he complained about not abiding by a “30 day notice” the platform issued to him on August 7, “and today they leaked/announced once again their frivolous nonsense.”

In July, Santos agreed to pay $35,000 in fines to settle claims from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the agency the Trump administration claims has authority over prediction markets. The agency accused Santos of leaving out or misrepresenting key information on his social media accounts in order to influence the price of his positions related to the State of the Union address, and also of betting on an event that he had the ability to influence. Last month, Santos’s attorney, Joseph Murray, said that the former congressman only agreed to pay the fines to avoid litigation and did not admit to any wrongdoing.

Santos was expelled from Congress in 2023 amid revelations that he lied about key details of his life and while facing a 23-count federal indictment on charges including conspiracy to commit offenses against the U.S., making false statements to the government, identity theft, and wire fraud. He pleaded guilty to the latter two charges in 2024 and was given a sentence of 87 months in prison, which was cut short when Trump commuted it last year.