Politicians Accused of Insider Trading on Kalshi: List of Races Impacted

Three political candidates have been suspended from Kalshi for insider trading on the prediction market platform, company officials said Wednesday.

The cases had been flagged due to the New York-based platform’s new safeguards designed to block political candidates from trading on their own elections, Kalshi officials said.

“Just like in traditional financial markets, bad actors will try to cheat,” Kalshi head of enforcement Bobby DeNault said in a statement. “Regulated exchanges must constantly evolve and adapt their systems to address insider threats. These three cases are an example of how developing proactive engineering solutions can help identify illicit trading activity.”

Kalshi’s statement did not identify the candidates involved, but all three users received fines ranging from $539 to $6,229 and five-year suspensions from the platform.

Tightening Oversight on Prediction Markets

Wednesday’s announcement by Kalshi comes as lawmakers from both parties seek to tighten oversight of prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, including whether traders can profit from advance knowledge of military or political events. The fears have prompted several bills to be introduced in Congress to clarify how the markets are regulated.

White House staff were warned in late March not to utilize insider information to place bets on prediction markets, according to an email obtained by the Wall Street Journal. The March 24 warning came a day after President Trump announced a sudden, five-day pause of strikes against Iran, the outlet reported.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued an executive order on Tuesday banning state employees from engaging in inside trading on prediction markets, joining similar moves by California Governor Gavin Newsom and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.

“Getting rich by betting on inside information is corruption, plain and simple,” Hochul said in a statement. “Our actions will ensure that public servants work for the people they represent, not their own personal enrichment. While Donald Trump and DC Republicans turn a blind eye to the ethical Wild West they've created, New York is stepping up to lead by example and stamp out insider trading.”

Who Has been Suspended?

Regulatory documents viewed by Newsweek identify the candidates as Matt Klein, a Democrat vying to represent Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District; Mark Moran, an independent running for U.S. Senate in Virginia; and Ezekiel Enriquez, a Republican who lost last month’s primary for Texas’ 21st Congressional District.

Matt Klein, Democrat, Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District

Klein, a state senator currently representing Minnesota’s 53rd Congressional district, apologized for his actions in a statement released late Wednesday.

“In October 2025 I heard from friends that there was a prediction market site with wagers on my primary race,” Klein wrote. “I was curious about how it worked. I set up an account and bet $50 of my own funds that I would win the primary. I was informed in March of 2026 that this was violation of the platform rules. In compliance with their request, I paid a penalty and agreed to be suspended from the platform. That was the only wager I have ever made on a predictions market.”

Klein said his experience indicates the need for “clearer rules and regulations” pertaining to betting markets.

In the Minnesota investigation involving Klein, Kalshi officials said internal safeguards revealed a candidate who traded a small amount on the outcome of his own election.

“After running its investigation, the surveillance team used internal information obtained from the trader and open source intelligence to confirm that the identity of the trader was the same as the candidate,” DeNault’s statement continued. “The candidate was then alerted to the rule violation and quickly negotiated a settlement. As part of that settlement, he acknowledged that the trading activity violated Kalshi exchange rules, agreed to pay a fine of $539.85, and to a suspension from Kalshi for a period of 5 years.”

Klein will learn his standing among Democratic voters in Minnesota during the state’s primary in August.

Ezekiel Enriquez, Republican, lost the primary for Texas’s 21st Congressional District

Attempts to reach Enriquez were unsuccessful.

Enriquez lost his quest to represent Texas’s 21st Congressional District last month to former Major League Baseball star Mark Teixeira, who President Trump has endorsed.

In Texas, where Enriquez has been fined, Kalshi noticed a “fairly small” wager from a candidate in the Republican primary for Texas’s 21st Congressional District.

“Same scenario as above: our systems screened the person and saw that he was trying to trade on his own election,” DeNault said. “We pre-emptively blocked the trader and ran a full investigation. When we contacted the trader, he was fully cooperative with the investigation and agreed to settle acknowledging the rule violation, paying a fine of $784.20, and accepting a 5-year suspension.”

Mark Moran, independent, U.S. Senate, Virginia

Moran admitted to betting roughly $100 on himself to win, insisting he wanted to get caught.

“I wanted to see (1) if Kalshi would come after me and (2) what their path would be (also noting this is after Kalshi had reached out to me for marketing partnerships on multiple occasions),” Moran posted on X Wednesday. “I initially met with their compliance in February and then their first offer was to have me pay an ~$800 fine, take a year ban, AND be compelled to make a public statement.”

Moran refused, prompting Kalshi to increase its settlement offer while trying to compel the candidate’s speech and “act like they are enforcing regulations,” he said.

“So, I took that bet knowing it would lead to attention,” Moran wrote, adding that he believes the United States has been “destroyed by vice” thanks in part to prediction market platforms like Kalshi.

Moran, who dropped his Democratic primary bid against incumbent Senator Mark Warner to run as an independent, vowed to target Kalshi with significant penalties - a 25 percent so-called “vice tax” - if elected.

Moran initially acknowledged being a candidate and violating Kalshi’s rules, but later stopped communicating with the company or complying with requests to resolve the matter, officials said.

“We fined him $6,229.30 and gave him a 5-year suspension from our platform,” Kalshi said in a statement without identifying Moran by name.

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This story was originally published April 22, 2026 at 3:15 PM.