Former congressman George Santos (R-New York) agreed to pay $35,000 to settle charges by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that he engaged in “manipulative activity” in trades he made regarding whether he would attend the State of the Union address, the CFTC said in a statement Friday.
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Santos traded on a contract on the prediction market Kalshi in February titled “Who will attend the State of the Union?,” and specifically traded on the question of his own attendance, according to the CFTC.
In social media posts, Santos made “material misrepresentations and omissions” about his attendance, the CFTC said. Once the prices moved favorably for him, he raked in more than $17,500 in profits, the regulatory agency said.
Santos’s lawyer, Joseph Murray, said the former congressman agreed to settle with the CFTC to put the matter behind him.
“There was absolutely no intent to deceive any person, nor intent to manipulate any market,” Murray wrote in a statement.
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Santos will pay a penalty of $17,500, will surrender his profits and will be banned from prediction market trading for three years.
Santos was expelled from the House in 2023 after being accused of financial misconduct and telling myriad lies about his background. He was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges of aggravated identity theft and wire fraud.
Santos was released after less than three months when President Donald Trump commuted his sentence in 2025.
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