VIRGINIA — Prediction market platform Kalshi fined Virginia U.S. Senate candidate Mark Moran $6,229.30 and banned him from the platform for five years after he placed a $100 bet on his own candidacy in violation of the platform's insider trading rules. In a notice of disciplinary action sent to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Kalshi claimed that Moran had purchased event contracts in markets related to his own candidacy and promoted them on social media.

The penalty was imposed after Moran refused to resolve the matter via settlement. Kalshi announced that it had taken action against three U.S. politicians for violating the platform's insider trading rules.

Moran, a former investment banker running against incumbent Mark Warner, acknowledged the wager in an interview. "I bet $100 on myself, not denying that, I did do it," he said. "I wanted to see if they would enforce it."

He said he was inspired to pull off the stunt after observing market manipulation on Polymarket related to the 2025 New York mayoral race, and that his goal was to raise awareness about how prediction markets are contributing to the further devolvement of society. He described the stunt as a campaign tactic testing the limits of the "all press is good press" credo.

"I've been waiting for months for attention to come," Moran said. "It only cost $100 to get you on the phone, right?"

He said he stopped speaking to Kalshi because he objected to the settlement terms. "They wanted me to make a public statement. That was the thing that I pushed back on, that's a violation of my First Amendment rights, to compel my speech," he said. He said that if elected, he plans to work on legislation to strengthen guardrails around prediction markets.

Moran switched his affiliation from Democrat to Independent at the beginning of the month, and he is still listed as a candidate on Kalshi's market for the Virginia Democratic Primary.

Kalshi settled enforcement actions against candidates in the Minnesota Democratic Primary and the Texas Republican Primary after the accused paid smaller fines. In February, Kalshi fined former California gubernatorial candidate Kyle Langford for market manipulation; Langford described his trades as a campaign gimmick.

Several states have filed lawsuits against leading prediction market companies alleging that they are running unlicensed gambling operations. New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order banning state government employees from insider trading.