A former contender for governor of California has been banned from Kalshi after betting on his personal candidacy final 12 months in violation of insider buying and selling guidelines, the prediction market platform stated on Wednesday.
According to a press release from Kalshi’s head of enforcement, Robert DeNault, the politician wager about $200 on his candidacy for governor of California and posted about it on X, resulting in a five-year suspension on the prediction market platform and a $2,000 penalty.
Kalshi didn’t identify the politician, however stated he’s now not working for governor and is now working for Congress.
The outline seems to suit Kyle Langford, a former Republican turned Democrat who’s now working for election to the US Home to symbolize the California’s twenty sixth Congressional District.
In an X submit revealed on Could 25, 2025, Langford shared a video of himself putting the wager on Kalshi, placing $98.76 on the chances of him successful.
Kalshi stated the account didn’t withdraw any income and that the case was reported to the CFTC.
Cointelegraph reached out to Langford for additional remark however didn’t obtain a direct response.
In the meantime, Kalshi stated it additionally handed out penalties to a YouTube editor who traded about $4,000 on YouTube stream markets between August and September 2025 — additionally violating Kalshi’s insider buying and selling guidelines, leading to a two-year penalty and a roughly $20,000 wonderful.
“Our surveillance methods flagged his near-perfect buying and selling success on markets with low odds, which had been statistically anomalous,” stated Kalshi, which, with the assistance of different merchants on the platform, recognized the place he labored and concluded that he doubtless had entry to materials private info.
Whereas Kalshi didn’t identify the YouTube editor, mainstream media have broadly reported that to be Artem Kaptur, an worker of the favored YouTuber MrBeast.
Kalshi, a Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee-regulated platform, stated it has investigated 200 cases and frozen a number of flagged accounts. It has greater than a dozen lively instances.
Earlier this month, Kalshi strengthened its surveillance efforts by establishing a surveillance audit committee and partnering with crypto buying and selling surveillance platform Solidus Labs to “detect, examine, and deal with market abuse.”
These efforts are available in response to an uptick in regulatory scrutiny of prediction markets as they enter the mainstream.
US lawmakers introduced a bill final month to limit buying and selling by government insiders after one Polymarket user revamped $400,000 on bets tied to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, putting wagers hours earlier than US forces captured him in Caracas.
CFTC sends sturdy warning to future violators
On Thursday, CFTC Chair Mike Selig said the company established a prediction markets advisory to collaborate with trade members in efforts to catch insider merchants.
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Selig warned that these participating in insider buying and selling will face penalties:
“Let me be clear: in case you try to interact in manipulation, fraud, or insider buying and selling, we are going to discover you and take motion.”
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