Kalshi Hires Former FBI Agent to Lead Anti-Money-Laundering Team

Kalshi has hired former FBI special agent Sean Fern to build and lead its first anti-money-laundering team as the prediction-market company faces growing scrutiny over alleged insider trading and market manipulation.

Fern will work with law enforcement, regulators and Kalshi’s senior staff to identify suspicious activity and prevent the platform from being used for financial crimes. His responsibilities include verifying customers, tracing the origins of funds and blocking transactions involving sanctioned entities.

Fern previously served as a special agent in the FBI’s international corruption squad, where he helped lead an investigation into the bribery scandal involving Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, known as 1MDB. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn and later served as one of the lead prosecutors in the OneTaste trial.

Kalshi’s hiring comes as prediction markets face increased attention from federal regulators and law enforcement. Regulators settled a market-manipulation case with former U.S. Rep. George Santos, while federal prosecutors indicted a former U.S. Army soldier and a former Google employee over alleged use of nonpublic information on Polymarket.

Regulators also fined a former teleprompter operator for President Donald Trump over alleged use of advance information about presidential speeches to profit on Kalshi’s “mention markets.” The scrutiny adds to earlier federal attention on Kalshi’s political-event trading.

Kalshi spokeswoman Elisabeth Diana said the company’s growing use by banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions has increased the need for stronger financial-crime controls.

Kalshi has 250 employees and plans to double its headcount within the next six months.