President Donald Trump's Department of Justice is investigating disgraced former Republican Rep. George Santos of New York for insider trading on the prediction market Kalshi, according to a new report.
NPR reported, citing "three people with direct knowledge of his trades who were not authorized to speak publicly," that the probe began after Santos began posting on X about attending Trump's State of the Union address. At the time, bets were being placed on who would attend, according to the report, and Santos began spreading the narrative that he would be one of the guests. That narrative caused the odds for his attendance to skyrocket.
What Santos didn't say, the report added, is that he wasn't going to the event and had placed a bet against his attendance. When he posted on X that he was "stuck at the airport" and couldn't make it, odds crashed, and Santos collected "thousands of dollars" in winnings, according to the report.
Santos died knowing about the investigation when NPR asked for a comment. He also refused to confirm or deny that he had a Kalshi account.
Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives in 2023 over a number of financial misdeeds and for stealing money from his donors. Santos was sentenced to seven years in prison for wire fraud and other charges and served just under three months before Trump commuted his sentence.
