The Division of Justice (DOJ) and the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee (CFTC) have opened investigations into former congressman George Santos relating to alleged insider buying and selling, according to NPR. The alleged scheme was each ridiculous and brazen, a hallmark of Santos.
This is the way it reportedly went down. Santos allegedly gamed the betting market Kalshi by making a video indicating he can be attending President Trump’s State of the Union deal with again in February. “I will be there for the State of Union within the gallery, guys,” he stated in a video originally posted to X.
State of the union replace! pic.twitter.com/y9nrYpCyU4
— George Santos (@Georgesantos) February 23, 2026
Betters on Kalshi and Polymarket had been having a subject day predicting who would attend the SOTU deal with. The Santos video despatched odds of his attendance hovering. Which means individuals who guess towards his look would stand to make a fairly penny. You already know the place that is going.
He did not present. “Watching SOTU from an airport television was not a part of the plan! FML,” Santos wrote on X. He posted this as Trump spoke, so the chances he would seem on the deal with plummeted.
Watching SOTU from an airport television was not a part of the plan! FML 😡🤬
— George Santos (@Georgesantos) February 24, 2026
Nonetheless, there was one thing he did not say on X. Santos had allegedly positioned bets on Kalshi that he wasn’t going to attend, in response to three individuals with direct data of the trades who spoke to NPR. These sources say he made tens of hundreds of {dollars} whereas caught watching that airport TV. “FML” certainly.
Kalshi detected the trades, froze his account and referred the incident to the DOJ and the CFTC. The organizations have not issued an replace as to the place these circumstances stand. Santos, for his half, performed dumb and advised NPR that he had no concept there even was an lively probe into his conduct on Kalshi. “I am not saying sure, I am not saying no,” he stated when requested if he had a Kalshi account.
He additionally urged that Luana Lopes Lara, a cofounder of Kalshi, is a “fellow Brazilian” and a private buddy. Reporting has indicated that Santos doesn’t, in actual fact, know Lara. Santos is the son of Brazilian immigrants, however was born in New York. He additionally lies about pretty much everything.
His lies finally caught up with him. Santos was hit with 13 counts of wire fraud, cash laundering and stealing cash from political donors whereas serving as a congressman. He was expelled from Congress and obtained a sentence of greater than seven years in jail. Trump commuted his sentence (recreation acknowledges recreation) so he solely served 4 months behind bars. Now he is again (allegedly) doing this type of factor. He is additionally on Cameo for around $300 a pop, to sate “followers trying so as to add a contact of Santos sparkle to their particular events.”
That is yet one more cautionary story behind the rise of on-line playing platforms. If individuals can rig one thing for cash, they will. That is fairly scary when you think about that individuals guess on actual world occasions that influence thousands and thousands of individuals, just like the outcome of wars and the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Santos is a simple punching bag, being as how he has spent the previous a number of years being the bodily embodiment of Pinocchio. Nonetheless, I discover it barely wealthy that the DOJ and CFTC have singled him out for insider buying and selling when, you recognize, it is just about an epidemic across the entire political system.
President Trump and his inside circle are maybe essentially the most cogent example of this. All through his second time period in workplace, merchants have had an inclination to put bets totaling thousands and thousands of {dollars} simply earlier than he makes main bulletins. The BBC followed consistent spikes of buying and selling timed hours or minutes earlier than a big announcement was made by way of social media or a televised interview.
