Utah AG took $20,000 from Kalshi rivals while pressing felony charges
A letter to the Salt Lake Tribune questions who benefits from Utah's crackdown on prediction markets. Attorney General Derek Brown received $20,000 from Kalshi competitors while prosecuting the platform. The contributions arrived after Brown's legal fight with Kalshi began. Brown has since filed 14 criminal charges against Kalshi and its co-founders and warned gamblers that prediction markets have halted operations in Utah.
The $20,000 in competitor contributions creates a visible conflict for Brown while he pursues felony charges against Kalshi co-founders Mansour and Lopes Lara. Other state attorneys general in Ohio, Tennessee, and Louisiana are already copying Utah's criminal playbook against federally registered platforms. That template just forced DraftKings, FanDuel, and Fanatics to self-exit Utah entirely.
For prediction market operators, the contribution story weakens the legal shield they hoped federal preemption would provide. It also gives Kalshi's defense team material to challenge the prosecution's motives in a state with strict gambling laws. The December 4 criminal summons now carries extra scrutiny, and any platform facing a hostile AG must factor political fundraising into its state-by-state risk model.