The Department of Justice launched an investigation into disgraced ex-Rep. George Santos after he allegedly bet on his own appearance at President Trump’s State of the Union address in February.
Santos, the one-time New York lawmaker and New Jersey prison inmate, allegedly placed a bet on Kalshi that he wouldn’t attend Trump’s address to Congress, sources familiar with the trades told NPR.
The day before the Feb. 24 State of the Union, Santos announced in a video on X that he would “be there…in the gallery.”
He wound up skipping the entire event. During the president’s speech, Santos shared another post on X, complaining about his apparent absenteeism.
“Watching SOTU from an airport tv was not part of the plan! FML,” Santos wrote.
The Kalshi market odds on the likelihood of Santos’ eleventh-hour appearance plummeted moments after Santos posted the update.
Kalshi eventually flagged Santos’ eyebrow-raising trades and froze his account. It referred the case to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the DOJ, a source told the outlet.
It’s unclear how much Santos bet, or what profit he yielded, but the sources alleged that he misled the public to bilk “tens of thousands of dollars.”
When reached by the outlet, Santos said the investigation was “news to [him].”
“I’m not saying yes, I’m not saying no,” Santos said when asked if he had a Kalshi account.
The Post reached out to Santos and the DOJ for comment.