Polymarket cuts George Santos as feds probe alleged Kalshi insider bet
Polymarket ended its paid contract with former U.S. Rep. George Santos on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, as federal regulators investigate whether he used non-public knowledge to trade on event contracts tied to his congressional behavior. The probe centers on an alleged bet Santos placed on rival platform Kalshi against his own attendance at Trump's State of the Union address, which Fortune reported Polymarket flagged to authorities Wednesday morning. Santos had promoted the crypto-native prediction market after his release from federal prison in October 2025 following a Trump clemency grant in a fraud case. Polymarket has not disclosed contract terms or identified the specific regulator involved, though the Associated Press reported the investigation targets a rival platform rather than Polymarket itself.
Kalshi now faces direct federal scrutiny for congressional-trader vetting before its event-contract expansion into political markets. A sustained probe would force the CFTC-registered exchange to implement real-time insider-screening protocols that Polymarket can market as a competitive differentiator.