Former Republican congressman George Santos has been hit with a first-of-its-kind lifetime ban from the prediction market platform Kalshi, after he attempted to manipulate markets around his attendance at President Trump’s 2026 State of the Union address. Santos is now facing a fine of $71,356 for violating Kalshi’s rules around insider trading and market manipulation.

The former politician placed trades in markets related to his attendance, then made public statements aimed at influencing the price of certain contracts, some of which were found to be false or misleading. The day before the address, Santos posted on X, “I'm going to be there for the State of Union in the gallery, guys,” which turned out to be a lie as he was watching the address on television at an airport. Kalshi's enforcement team flagged his trades, froze his account, and referred the case to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

This is not the first time Santos has faced legal trouble. He was expelled from Congress in 2023, pleaded guilty to embezzlement, lying to Congress, and fraud, and was released from federal prison in 2025. Kalshi's spokesperson, Elisabeth Diana, states that Santos wouldn’t talk to them and actively dodged their inquiries.

Kalshi has issued other enforcement actions against politicians who they found had broken their rules, including North Carolina Congressional candidate Laurie Buckhout, California gubernatorial candidate Stephen Kloobeck, and Maine gubernatorial candidate Ben Midgley. US Senate candidate Mark Moran was also fined for insider trading, although he admitted to doing it on purpose.

Through his legal representative, Santos declined to comment to WIRED. He sarcastically thanked Kalshi for the lifetime ban, adding a cheeky message about the platform's longevity.