Prediction market startup Kalshi permanently bans ex-US lawmaker Santos from trading

​Kalshi permanently banned ​former U.S. congressman ‌George Santos ​from its platform on Monday and imposed a penalty ‌of $71,356, citing insider trading.

The company said in a disciplinary action that its compliance department had ‌found reasonable cause to believe the former lawmaker ‌engaged in illicit trading. The move comes as prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket have seen a ⁠rise ​in suspicious ⁠trading activity, presenting new compliance challenges as regulators and ⁠law enforcement intensify scrutiny of the growing sector.

Kalshi ​had reported Santos to the U.S. Department ⁠of Justice in June after detecting suspicious trading ⁠activity ​from his account on the platform, a source told Reuters at the time. Santos ⁠was expelled from Congress over fraud and identity theft. ⁠U.S. ⁠President Donald Trump commuted his over-seven-year prison sentence last year.