A former contender for governor of California has been banned from Kalshi after betting on his own candidacy last year in violation of insider trading rules, the prediction market platform said on Wednesday.
According to a statement from Kalshi’s head of enforcement, Robert DeNault, the politician bet about $200 on his candidacy for governor of California and posted about it on X, leading to a five-year suspension on the prediction market platform and a $2,000 penalty.
Kalshi did not name the politician, but said he is no longer running for governor and is now running for Congress.
The description appears to fit Kyle Langford, a former Republican turned Democrat who is now running for election to the US House to represent California’s 26th Congressional District.
In an X post published on May 25, 2025, Langford shared a video of himself placing a $98.76 bet on Kalshi, wagering that he would win.
Kalshi said the account did not withdraw any profits and that the case was reported to the CFTC.
Cointelegraph reached out to Langford for further comment but didn’t receive an immediate response.
Meanwhile, Kalshi said it also handed out penalties to a YouTube editor who traded about $4,000 on YouTube stream markets between August and September 2025 — also violating Kalshi’s insider trading rules, resulting in a two-year penalty and a roughly $20,000 fine.
“Our surveillance systems flagged his near-perfect trading success on markets with low odds, which were statistically anomalous,” said Kalshi, which, with the help of other traders on the platform, identified where he worked and concluded that he likely had access to material non-public information.
While Kalshi didn’t name the YouTube editor, mainstream media have widely reported that the editor is Artem Kaptur, an employee of the popular YouTuber MrBeast.
Kalshi, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission-regulated platform, said it has investigated 200 cases and frozen several flagged accounts. It has more than a dozen active cases.
Earlier this month, Kalshi strengthened its surveillance efforts by establishing a surveillance audit committee and partnering with crypto trading surveillance platform Solidus Labs to “detect, investigate, and address market abuse.”
Those efforts come in response to an uptick in regulatory scrutiny of prediction markets as they enter the mainstream.
US lawmakers introduced a bill last month to restrict trading by government insiders after one Polymarket user made over $400,000 on bets tied to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, placing wagers hours before US forces captured him in Caracas.
CFTC sends strong warning to future violators
On Thursday, CFTC Chair Mike Selig said the agency established a prediction markets advisory to collaborate with industry participants in efforts to catch insider traders.
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Selig warned that those engaging in insider trading will face consequences:
“Let me be clear: if you attempt to engage in manipulation, fraud, or insider trading, we will find you and take action.”
