Adam Kinzinger Says He Made Kalshi Bets on a Biden Pardon
He said the trades produced $823 across about 25 transactions and that he had no material nonpublic information.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is scrutinizing Kalshi positions tied to former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger over contracts concerning a possible pardon from President Joe Biden, raising compliance questions for prediction markets.
The trades were made in December 2024 and January 2025, after Kinzinger had left Congress. He said he traded contracts on whether he would receive a pardon and whether Biden would issue preemptive pardons before leaving office.
Kinzinger said the trades produced $823 in gains across about 25 transactions, with losses on most of them. He said he had reviewed Kalshi’s rules and had no material nonpublic information.
“I was not a congressman or candidate, and had been out of office for two years, and had no inside information,” Kinzinger said.
Kalshi bars users from trading contracts in which they are direct participants. The CFTC has also warned that using material nonpublic information in prediction-market trading can violate the Commodity Exchange Act.
The CFTC and Kalshi have not confirmed the examination, and Kinzinger said neither had contacted him. The inquiry follows increased regulatory scrutiny of event contracts involving individual conduct, privileged information and events traders may be able to influence.
