Polymarket cuts ties with George Santos as regulators probe trades on rival prediction market

Polymarket has cut its paid relationship with George Santos as federal regulators probe whether the former congressman bet against attending his party’s State of the Union on a rival market. Santos placed the bets on Kalshi after publicly signaling he would attend the February 24 address, according to people familiar with the matter. Kalshi detected the trades and referred them to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, which has opened an insider-trading probe. The move comes as Santos, who was released from prison last October after a presidential clemency, was working as an influencer for Polymarket at the time. Polymarket said it was terminating the contract in light of this week’s revelations. Santos did not respond to AP requests. In a podcast, he described prediction markets as “easily manipulable” but argued they are not illegal and noted there will always be advantaged players.