Kalshi fines and bans three candidates for betting on own races

Kalshi, a regulated prediction market platform, issued penalties to three political candidates after finding they placed wagers tied to their own election outcomes. The company published details of the enforcement actions on Wednesday and described the trades as a form of political insider trading that violated platform rules.

The trades occurred while the candidates were running in primary contests for congressional and Senate seats in Virginia, Minnesota and Texas. Kalshi said it determined the activity by reviewing trading patterns and account records and that two of the matters were resolved through settlements in which the traders acknowledged misconduct. One case resulted in a larger penalty after the individual did not accept full responsibility.

The stiffest penalty was against Mark Moran, a 34-year-old candidate in Virginia’s U.S. Senate Democratic primary. Kalshi’s filing said Moran placed wagers on whether he would announce and win a bid against Sen. Mark Warner. Kalshi wrote that Moran initially acknowledged making improper bets but later stopped cooperating with the inquiry. The platform fined him $6,300 and barred him from using Kalshi for five years. Moran previously described placing a $125 wager as “free advertising” and wrote that he had backed a meme token, adding “any attention is good attention.”

Matt Klein, a Democratic candidate in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District, and Ezekiel Enriquez, who ran in the Republican primary for Texas’ 21st Congressional District, each received five-year bans and agreed to pay fines of $540 and $784, respectively. Kalshi identified those matters as settled with acknowledgments of rule violations.

Kalshi has taken earlier enforcement steps against other individuals who traded on nonpublic event-related information. The company previously fined and banned a candidate who wagered on his own gubernatorial bid and also penalized a media firm employee who was later fired after an internal review found likely misuse of knowledge about upcoming content to place accurate trades.

Kalshi’s disclosures come as lawmakers and regulators focus on prediction markets and the potential for trading on privileged information. Kalshi and a chief rival have announced new measures aimed at tightening account controls and curbing illicit trading. In its blog post, Kalshi said the penalties form part of ongoing efforts to enforce platform rules and to deter trading that leverages campaign-related or other nonpublic information.