A former candidate running for California governor in 2026 and a popular YouTuber were banned from the Kalshi platform for alleged insider trading violations, a popular prediction marketplace revealed on Wednesday.
On the blog post Detailing the cases, Kalshi’s head of enforcement, Robert DeNault, noted that the company’s surveillance system flagged suspicious behavior in both cases.
In the case of the political candidate, Kalshi cited a video posted online “that appeared to show him peddling his own candidacy.” Kalshi froze the candidate’s accounts and reported the action to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a government agency that oversees forecast markets. He imposed a five-year ban and fined the account 10 times the amount of the initial transaction, which Kalshi claims he intended to donate to charity.
Although Kalshi does not mention the candidate by name, DeNault notes that he recently dropped out of the race and ran for Congress. This fits the description of only one person in the race: Kyle Langford, the far-right Republican candidate best known for his inflammatory anti-Semitic comments praising Nazis. Langford has since resigned and launched a campaign styled as a progressive Democrat in California’s 26th District.
In May 2025, Langford uploaded a video to X showing a screen recording of a trade order made to Kalshi in connection with an event related to the governor’s race. Shortly after the Kalshi incident confirmed that he is investigating Langford’s activities. In his description of the candidate investigation, DeNault notes that Kalshi began investigating in May of this year.
“Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are at an all-time high, and the media has decided to cover a $200 election stunt (that is, betting on me) from last year,” Langford said in a statement to WIRED. “Is this really the state of our political discourse?”
This isn’t the only suspension related to the California governor’s race; As Politico reported yesterday, Democratic megadonist Stephen Cloobeck, who was briefly a candidate before dropping out to support Rep. Eric Swalwell, has also been blocked by the platform for attempting to trade in the race. “If a candidate is ever seen trading their own candidacy, it will result in disciplinary action at the exchange. Their trades will be frozen. The candidate may be permanently suspended from having an account,” DeNault said in a statement. Cloobeck confirmed the bets to Politico and said he could still trade on other events.
This attack highlights how broad definitions of “insider trading” can be in prediction markets; while classic insider trading cases involve entities profiting from “material non-public information” – confidential data or intelligence that can influence stock prices – in this case, even placing bets while working on an election or running for office could constitute a violation of the rules.
In the case of YouTube streamer Kalshi, it reports that its surveillance systems flagged the account based on “statistically unusual” trading success. He also received tips from Kalshi users who reported unusual activities. “We investigated and discovered that the trader was employed as an editor of the streamer’s program and likely had access to material, non-public information related to his trades,” DeNault writes in the report. The account was frozen before it could withdraw funds; he is currently suspended for two years and has also received a financial penalty. Kalshi did not reveal the identity of the YouTube streamer.